“I wish you would come down; our house has been knocked into a cocked hat, and I’m afraid that some of the pillagers may take it into their heads to pay us a visit tonight.”
Braith jumped out of bed and bundled himself into a garment which had once been an overcoat.
“Anybody hurt?” he inquired, struggling with a sleeve full of dilapidated lining.
“No. Colette is barricaded in the cellar, and the concierge ran away to the fortifications. There will be a rough gang there if the bombardment keeps up. You might help us—”
“Of course,” said Braith; but it was not until they had reached the Rue Serpente and had turned in the passage which led to West’s cellar, that the latter cried: “Have you seen Jack Trent, today?”
“No,” replied Braith, looking troubled, “he was not at Ambulance Headquarters.”
“He stayed to take care of Sylvia, I suppose.”
A bomb came crashing through the roof of a house at the end of the alley and burst in the basement, showering the street with slate and plaster. A second struck a chimney and plunged into the garden, followed by an avalanche of bricks, and another exploded with a deafening report in the next street.
They hurried along the passage to the steps which led to the cellar. Here again Braith stopped.
“Don’t you think I had better run up to see if Jack and Sylvia are well entrenched? I can get back before dark.”
“No. Go in and find Colette, and I’ll go.”