Some
forty people would sleep under the old Ballinger roof that night--dynamite
permitting. Mrs. Groome was firm in her determination not to flee, and as
James and Mike were there to watch, she had graciously given a number
of the gloomy refugees from the lower regions permission to camp in the
outhouses and grounds.
II
Alexina spent the greater part of the day with Aileen Lawton, Olive Bascom,
and Sibyl Thorndyke, out of doors, fascinated by the spectacle of the
burning city.
The valley beyond Market Street, and the lower business district, were a
rolling mass of smoke parting about pillars of fire, shot with a million
glittering sparks when a great building was dynamited. All the windows in
those sections of the city as yet beyond the path of the fire were open,
for although closed windows might have shut out the torrid atmosphere, the
explosions would have shattered them.
"Oh, dear," sighed Olive Bascom, "there goes my building. The smoke lifted
for a moment and I saw the flames spouting out of the windows. A cool
million and uninsured. We thought Class A buildings were safe from any sort
of fire."
"Heavens!" exclaimed Alexina naively, "I wish I had a million-dollar
building down in that furnace. It must be a great sensation to watch a
million dollars go up in sparks."
"I hope your mother hasn't any buildings down in the business district,"
said Aileen anxiously.
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