From the street we
could hear the clang of engines and trucks arriving and taking
their positions, almost as if the fire department had laid out the
campaign beforehand for this very fire.
Anyone who had waited a moment or so in the other apartment down
the street might have gone downstairs without attracting any
attention. Then he might have disappeared in or mingled with the
very crowd on the street which he had caused to gather. Late as it
was, the crowd seemed to spring from nowhere, and to grow
momentarily as it had done during the raid on the gambling joint.
It was one of the many interesting night phenomena of New York.
What had been intended to be one of the worst fires and to injure
a valuable property of the Warrington estate had, thanks to the
prompt action of Garrick, been quickly turned into only a minor
affair, at the worst. The fire had eaten its way into two other
rooms of Warrington's own suite, but there it had been stopped.
The building itself was nearly fireproof, and each suite was a
unit so that, to all intents and purposes, it might burn out
without injury to others.
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