Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Wilkie led them back toward Market Street. Wilkie was sure Fletch had gone back to the abandoned house where they stashed their loot. "That way if the police got us," he explained, "they wouldn't find it." They zigzagged through the crowds of people. Most of them were heading away from where Wilkie was taking them. And no wonder. The damage was worse the farther south they walked. One boardinghouse was split in half. Another had been swallowed by the earth almost to its rooftop. Trolley tracks were twisted like pretzels. On one block, men were trying to hoist a horse out of a hole in the street. Leo tried not to look at the collapsed buildings, but he couldn't stop thinking about who might still be inside.

The fires were worse down here. With every step the smoke was thicker, the air hotter. Leo's lungs started to ache. They were about to cross Market Street when a fire wagon clattered up and stopped in front of them. The two huge horses pulling the wagon wheezed and snorted. Sweat soaked their bodies. Two firefighters jumped off, dragging a thick hose. They hooked it up to a hydrant, but only a trickle of water came out. A man in a bloodstained shirt rushed up to the firemen. "Please help me," he begged. "Everything I own is in my house, and a fire is moving toward it."

He pointed across the street, where the roof of one house was on fire. Next door, men were leading horses out of a stable. "I'm sorry sir," said the taller of the firemen. "The quake broke our water mains. We've been up and down Market. We can't find any water to fight the fires."

"You're just going to let the city burn?" the man exclaimed. The firemen said nothing. But their eyes — weary and scared — told the answer. San Francisco was burning. And nobody could stop it. The firemen rolled up their hoses, climbed into their wagon, and continued down the street. Leo knew they should get out of here. Morris was right. But suddenly Morris gasped. "It's Fletch!" he cried, pointing across the street. Leo saw him. He was carrying a small, tattered flour sack. "Fletch!" shouted Wilkie. His voice boomed through the smoky air. Fletch turned, took one look at Wilkie, and bolted down the alley next to the burning house. To Leo's amazement, it wasn't Wilkie who took off first after Fletch. It was Morris. They both disappeared into the alley. Leo and Wilkie started after them.

But they had barely crossed the street when the ground jolted with another aftershock. People screamed and ran into the street. There was a deep cracking noise right above them. A piece of rooftop from the burning house crashed onto the sidewalk. Garbage on the ground erupted into flames. The alley was now blocked by a wall of fire.