Chapter Thirteen Summary

The mob descends on the children chanting, "Burn the orphans! Burn the orphans!" Officer Luciana leads the pack as they stalk toward the children, eyes glittering with torchlight. Once again, deus ex machina comes to the children's rescue when Hector appears floating through the sky in his self-sustaining hot air mobile home. The Baudelaires have never seen such a beautiful sight: safety hovering above their heads. Despite the floating home's size and heft, it soars gracefully, silently, through the air. Because Hector's creation is only designed to float up, never down, he is unable to lower the baskets for the children to climb in, but he unfurls a long rope ladder, shouting for the children to hurry up. When the villagers see the hot air mobile home, they are outraged. They trusted Hector to destroy banned mechanical items but he has...