The Great Fire Read Free Page A

seen the man’s face when he opened the casket.
    â€œYes,” replied André. “He was very pleased, and thanked me. I told him about the rioters in our street and he sent a man to summon the militia.”
    A distant crash and a sound like thunder caused cries of alarm in the street. The boys stared, awestruck, at the black smoke billowing up to the south.
    â€œWe’ll go down to the Exchange,” said André. “We might see more from there.”
    Sam knew he should protest. Master Giraud had told them to come straight back. And yet it wasn’t far out of their way, and he too wanted to see what was happening.
    â€œCome on, Budge,” he said.

    They went down Bartholomew Lane and past the back of the Royal Exchange. They knew this area. The family’s church was nearby.
    â€œDown here!” called André. And instead of taking the way home through Poultry and Cheapside, he turned down one of the lanes that led south, towards the river.
    Here the smoke was thicker. It stung their eyes. Budge strained at the lead and whimpered.
    â€œWe should go back,” said Sam. “We’ll be covered in soot and your father will know.”
And André will make sure I get the blame,
he thought.
    Suddenly flames sprang up into the sky ahead, followed by a tower of smoke that rolled down over the boys, black and choking. Shouts of alarm mingled with the crunch and crackle of the fire.
    Then they heard screams: “Help! Help me!”
    They stared through the thinning smoke. At the far end of a passageway a tall house was on fire. A woman with a baby in her arms was shouting from an upstairs window, and down below people had begun to gather.
    â€œWhat can they do?” gasped André.
    The boys hurried closer.

    Now several people were holding up a large sheet. The woman hesitated, then – with a shriek – flung the baby out of the window. Sam saw it land in the sheet and be lifted up by a bystander.
    By the time the woman had jumped down, and was holding the wailing baby, Sam and André were in the thick of the crowded street, among the firefighters.
    â€œDon’t just stand there!” a man shouted at Sam. He passed him an empty bucket.
    â€œStay, Budge,” commanded Sam. He took the bucket, handed it to a woman beside him, and seized the next one as it came along. André joined in on his other side.
    Now they were part of a double chain of firefighters. Some men had dug into the street and opened a water pipe. From there water was passed quickly along the line, emptied, and the buckets sent back to the pipe. Everyone was busy.
    â€œKeep going! Faster! Faster!”
    Those at the front threw bucket after bucket of water into the burning house. But they were losing. Flames burst from the upper windows, where the water couldn’t reach.
    Sam was tired. They were getting nowhere. Then, just as he felt like giving up, a cheer rose from the firefighters. Somemilitia men had appeared, shouting, “Make way! Make way!” Sam saw that they were pulling a cart with a water squirt on it.
    Three men operated the squirt. Sam watched as it sucked up water from the pipe, and was then swivelled around to squirt a jet of water that went straight in through one of the blazing upper windows.
    Buckets of water continued to be passed along, the squirt was refilled, and soon the fire was almost under control.
    At last there were no more flames to be seen, although they could hear the never-ending roar of the fire all around. But the house – wet, blackened and smoking – was saved.
    The men with the squirt moved on, and the firefighters threw down their buckets and cheered and hugged one another. Sam picked up Budge’s lead as people began walking away.
    André said, “We must get back. My father will be angry.”
    They turned to go. At that moment flames shot from the windows of a house in front of them. Sam saw green and gold embroidered