Quickly he tore these into strips and tied them together.  Then he approached Hal and tied one end under his arms.

“We will get out yet,” he said quietly, and assisted Hal to the window.

“Put no more strain upon your wound than necessary,” he instructed Hal.  “Hold to the sheets with your hands, and it will relieve some of the strain.”

So saying, Chester lifted Hal to the window sill, and gently lowered him over the edge.  With his feet braced against the wall, he paid out the improvised rope slowly.

Now the flames burst into the room in which Chester stood, but it did not hasten the lad in his desperate work.  Slowly he let the sheets slip through his hands, that Hal’s wound might not be opened afresh by any sudden jerks; and presently the slack of the rope told him that his chum had reached the ground.  At the same moment he heard Hal’s voice: 

“All right!  Pull up the rope!”

Rapidly now Chester set about saving himself.  The room was a seething mass of flames, which burned him terribly.  Tying one end of his improvised rope to a bedpost, Chester leaped to the window sill, and began his descent.

So fierce were the flames that the sheets lasted but a second; but, in that time Chester had slid halfway to the ground.  Then the rope broke and he fell with a crash.  He picked himself up immediately, however, and, turning to Hal, said swiftly: 

“Quick!  We must get away from here at once.  The building is likely to fall at any moment and we shall be buried beneath it.”

He stooped down.

“Put your arms around my neck again!” he commanded.

Hal obeyed, this time without question.

Raising up with Hal in his arms, Chester staggered forward at a run, and it was well that he did so.

For at the moment he had reached a place of safety, the great building caved in with a deafening crash.  There was a roar like the roar of a thousand guns, and, a moment later, on the spot where the hospital had stood there was only a mass of smoking and blazing debris.

More slowly, now, Chester continued on his way.  Before him he could still hear the thundering of many cannons as the battle progressed, but he kept his face turned in that direction.

In spite of the heavy burden in his arms, he made good progress; nor did the bursting of an occasional shell nearby deter him, nor turn him from his course.  As he staggered along he passed many tumbled-down buildings that gave evidence of the accuracy of the fire of the German gunners; and in some places the bodies of non-combatants littered the streets.

Straight toward the front went Chester, his face set in grim determination.  He realized that in that direction lay whatever chance there was of safety; for even now his keen ears detected the sound of firing from the rear, as the Germans made their attack from that direction.

But, even as Chester neared the outskirts of the city a great cheer rang out from in front, and the sound of firing grew less distinct.  Presently troops began to come toward them.  Victorious in front, they were now hurrying through the city to drive off the enemy attacking from the other side.