Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/284

252 “Meanwhile, the woman was hanging outside the window. The fire raged with increased violence over her head; another moment, and she would have fallen into the street.

“The hole was opened. We saw the corporal pull off his shoulder-belt and lower himself inside: the other firemen, who had arrived, followed.

“At that instant a very lofty Porta ladder, which had just arrived, was placed against the house, in front of the windows whence issued flames, and maniacal howls. But it seemed as though they were too late.

“‘No one can be saved now! they shouted. The firemen are burning! The end has come! They are dead!’

“All at once the black form of the corporal came in sight at the window with the balcony, lighted up by the flames overhead. The woman clasped him round the neck; he caught her with both arms, drew her up, and laid her down inside the room.

“The crowd set up a shout a thousand voices strong, which rose above the roar of the conflagration.

“But the others? And how were they to get down? The ladder which leaned against the roof on the front of another window was at a good distance from them. How could they get hold of it?

“While the people were saying this to themselves, one of the firemen stepped out of the window, set his right foot on the window-sill and his left on the ladder; standing thus upright in the air, he grasped the lodgers, one after the other, as the other men handed them to him from within, passed them on to a comrade, who had climbed up from the street, and who, after