事情已经过去十三年了，然而对我来说，它仿佛是昨天才发生似的--报火警钟的当当声，消防队员声嘶力竭的喊叫声，大街上人们狂奔乱跑，惊恐万分。突然，人群寂静无声。熊熊的火光照着那无数张向上仰望着的脸。那边，小男孩紧紧地拽住墙壁上狭窄的突出部分，后面是屋顶和顶楼里喷涌而出的黑烟，他离地面是那么高，看来人力是无法搭救他的了。

　　But even then it was coming. Up from the street, while the crew of the truck-company were labouring with the heavy extension ladder that at its longest stretch was many feet too short, crept four men upon long slender poles with crossbars, iron-hooked at the end. Standing in one window, they reached up and thrust the hook through the next one above, then mounted a storey higher. Again the crash of glass, and again the dizzy ascent. Straight up the wall they crept, looking like human flies on the ceiling, and clinging as close, never resting, reaching one recess only to set out for the next; nearer and nearer in the race for life, until but a single span separated the foremost from the boy.

　　但是，尽管这样，还是有人来搭救了。消防梯车上的救火队员正在费劲地架起笨重的伸缩梯，但是那梯子伸足后还是太短，差了一大截。这时候，四名消防队员缘着细长的杆子从街面往楼上爬，杆子上装有横档，顶端用铁钩钩住。他们站上一扇窗口，把杆子伸上去，用钩子钩住上面的窗子，随后又爬上一层楼。接着，又一阵砸碎玻璃的砰砰声，又一次令人头晕目眩的攀登。他们沿着墙壁笔直地往上爬，看上去小得好似天花板上的苍蝇。四名消防队员紧贴着墙，不歇气地一个窗台接着一个窗台向上爬。在这场争夺生命的竞赛中，他们愈爬愈近了，爬在最前面的消防队员离小孩只剩下一柞的距离了。