"You go first, John. She is too heavy for me," Cyril gasped.
John stumbled out, half suffocated, while Cyril thrust his head as
far as he could outside the window.
"That is it, John; you take hold of her shoulder, and I will help you
get her on to your back."
Between them they pushed her nearly out, and then, with Cyril's
assistance, John got her across his shoulders. She was a heavy woman,
and the old sailor had great difficulty in carrying her down. Cyril
hung far out of the window till he saw him put his foot on the
ground; then he seized a rung of the ladder, swung himself out on to
it, and was soon down.
For a time he felt confused and bewildered, and was conscious that if
he let go the ladder he should fall. He heard a voice say, "Bring one
of those buckets of water," and directly afterwards, "Here, lad, put
your head into this," and a handful of water was dashed into his
face. It revived him, and, turning round, he plunged his head into a
bucket that a man held up for him. Then he took a long breath or two,
pressed the water from his hair, and felt himself again. The women at
the other window had by this time been brought down. A door in the
garden wall had been broken down with axes, and the women and girls
were taken away to a neighbouring house.
"There is nothing more to do here," the gentlemen said. "Now, men,
you are to enter the houses round about. Wherever a door is fastened,
break it in. Go out on to the roofs with buckets, put out the sparks
as fast as they fall.
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