A number of budmashes were bringing bundles of bamboos from a basket-
maker's shop opposite; some of the crowd were opposing them.

"They are going to fire the house," Dick exclaimed. "The people opposing
are the neighbors, no doubt. They'll do it, though," he added, as the
fiercer spirits drove the others back. "What's best to be done, Ned?"

Ned looked round, and then up.

"Let us cut through the bamboo ceiling, Dick; there must be a space
between that and the roof. The wall won't be thick between that and the
next house, and we can work our way from house to house; and if the flames
gain--for they are sure to spread--we can but push off the tiles and take
to the roofs, and run the gantlet of their pistols and muskets. Their
blood's up now, and they will shoot, to a certainty. Do you think that the
best plan?"

"That's it. Now, lads, two of you stand close together; now, Perkins, you
jump on their shoulders and cut a hole through the bamboos with your
cutlass. Quick, lads, there's no time to lose;" for they could hear the
tramping of feet below, and the sound as the bundles of bamboo were thrown
down.

"Now, lads," Dick went on--for as a naval officer he was naturally in
command of the men--"take two or three of those rugs on that couch there,
and knot them together. Shut the door, to keep the smoke out. There,
they've lit it!"--as a shout of pleasure rose from below.

The bamboos were tough, and Perkins could not use his strength to