Some had had to run for axes to break the ice, and then they pushed and jostled each other about the square hole they had cut, to dip up the dark, swift water underneath; and all the while the sky behind them grew a fiercer red, and the very ice glared with the leaping flames.

At last, pulling and pushing, they brought the little engine up the slope, and then with a great shout dragged it into the outskirts of the yard.

They pumped furiously, and a small jet of water was played upon the nearest pile of boards.

A hissing cloud of steam almost hid the volunteer firemen, but the flames leaped and tossed against the sky, and the sparks were sucked up into the cold air, and whirled in sheets across the river.
John Ward came breathlessly towards his wife.

"Are you all right, Helen?
You seemed too near; come back a little further." Then, suddenly seeing the woman beside her with the baby in her arms, he stopped, and looked about.