CHAPTER XII.
SHOWING THEIR METTLE.
"OH, thay, can't we do anything to thave him?"
It was, of course, Ted, with his lisp, who said this. He had come upwhile the others were talking, and seemed to understand the situation;perhaps he had even witnessed the strange dash of Ty Collins into theburning farmhouse.
Elmer shook his head in the negative, as he replied:
"You see, the smoke is so heavy that even if one of us did go in, thechances are he'd never be able to find Ty. We'll have to let him alone.Ty has a long head on him, and generally knows what he's doing. Let'swork away here as fast as they fetch us the full buckets, and hope ourchum will get out again. Here, hand me that pail, Ted; and get busy,Landy. No time to be staring around."
Landy seemed to be half stunned because of the queer actions of thescout who had entered the house. He was standing there looking up at therow of windows, out of which the smoke curled and eddied, as though heexpected an answer to the puzzling question there.
But the energy of the patrol leader influenced him; and taking thebucket that had reached the end of the line of men and women, hehastened to dash its contents in the spot Elmer indicated.
The boys were all showing more or less signs of exhaustion by this time,owing to the terrific heat, caused by the stickiness of the weather, andthe influence of the fire. But not one of them gave any indication ofshowing the white feather. They seemed to feel that the honor of thescouts was involved in this fight for the farmer's home; and with setteeth they continued to ply the water.
"We're gaining a little all the time, fellows!" exclaimed Elmer, meaningto bolster up the courage of both Ted and Landy; though often he wouldcast an anxious eye up at those mute windows, as though beginning tofear that the missing chum would never again appear.
"Yeth," said Ted, dolefully, "but every time we leave a plathe to go toa new one, the fire tharth out again freth ath a daithy. If only a lotmore men would come to help uth out, we might get it under."
"We will do it, boys, just make up your minds to that," gasped Elmer, ashe once more gripped a big stable bucket and started back to the windowthrough which he expected to hurl the contents. "We've got the grit tostick to the job to the bitter end, and grit wins the day every time.Hurry up there with that other pail; and tell them to find some more, ifthey can. Anything will do that can hold water. We've just _got_ to putthis thing out! That's the way, Landy; you did a good job that time!"
Those words of praise did more to inspire new faith and confidence inthe heart of the almost exhausted fat boy than anything else could havedone. He seemed to pluck up fresh courage, braced himself to his task,and even grinned at Elmer, although it was a sickly attempt at a smile.
Landy was, indeed, a sight just then. He was wet to the skin withperspiration and spilled water from the creek. Besides, his usuallyjolly face was streaked with a series of queer marks, where the blacksmoke had found lodgment, and been ground in every time he drew hissleeve across his smarting eyes.
But then the others were little better off, though possibly they did notfeel the terrible heat quite so much as the stout youth. Regardless ofthe damage to their clothes they labored faithfully on, determined thatthe Hickory Ridge troop was bound to receive new honor because of whatthey did at the Brady fire.
Seconds had merged into minutes, and Elmer's anxiety grew to an alarmingextent. What if poor Ty had, indeed, fallen in the midst of that smokeand was lying there now in the house helpless?
It was a terrible thought, and made him shiver, even though at the timehe was also burning with the heat. Suffocation was just as bad as thefire itself; and Elmer began to argue with himself that perhaps it washis sacred duty to rush into the house in the endeavor to find Ty.
He looked at Landy and Ted with almost pity in his eyes, and yet at thatmoment the young patrol leader was proud of his chums. Never had therebeen a test of endurance where the stake meant so much. If they couldsave the Brady home surely that were far better than any prize whichmight have fallen to their prowess because of a great hike, or aswimming distance match!
Suddenly he heard Landy give a shrill yell.
"There he is, Elmer! Hurrah for Ty!"
The fat boy was pointing a trembling finger upward; and following itsgeneral direction Elmer saw a head thrust forth from a certain window inthe second story.
Ty did not seem disposed to pay the slightest attention to his chums,though the three of them stood there waving their hands and shouting. Hewas beckoning wildly to the little girl who had been standing near byall the while, with her eager eyes riveted on the window above, just asthough she expected a miracle to be wrought in her favor.
When Ty's head poked into view as through a curtain, for eddies of smokewere all around the scout, the child began to dance up and down, andclap her hands. At that moment Ty Collins came nearer to being a realhero in the eyes of a girl than ever before in all his life.
"Come closer!" he shouted, and as she did so, he continued: "Where didyou say Bennie was, up here? Is this the room?"
"Yes, yes," she replied, nodding her head at the same time, as if infear lest he might not hear her childish voice in the midst of so muchnoise, with women calling, and newcomers asking questions as theyreached the scene.
"Where did you leave him?" demanded the intrepid rescuer.
"Over in the corner--the box on the floor--Bennie was naughty, and hehad to be punished!" she cried at the top of her shrill voice.
Ty immediately disappeared, while his three chums below waited withastonishment written on their faces, not knowing what it all meant.
"Did you hear that, Elmer?" demanded Landy, plucking at the wet sleeveof the other. "She said the baby was in a box! Don't that beat theDutch, though? Whatever could she have been thinking of to do such athing?"
"It wath the thillieth ever!" declared Ted, "thtuffing a baby in a boxjutht like he wath a rag doll!"
"Hold on and see," said Elmer, who must have had some sort of suspicionas to the true state of affairs.
All eyes were riveted on that window. Seconds passed as before, and theboys began to get nervous again because Ty failed to appear. Had hefound the baby really smothered? Was he attempting to carry the poorlittle darling down the stairs through all that dreadful smoke?
"Oh, look! look!" cried Landy.
There was no need of his saying this, because everyone near by had beenwatching that window eagerly, and no doubt saw what was happening justas quickly as the fat boy did; but then Landy was so worked up withexcitement that he could not restrain himself.
Yes, Ty was there in full sight again. This time he was leaning from thewindow, and seemed to be holding something in his arms.
"Hold on there, Ty," shouted Ted, feeling a thrill of horror, as hefancied his fellow scout must be about to heave the poor little innocentdarling from that second story window, in the hope of somebody catchingit before it could reach the ground. "Give uth a thanthe to get underfirtht."
"Yes, hold your horses, old fellow!" panted Landy, as he started forwardwith outstretched arms.
But, singular to say, Ty seemed to pay little or no attention to theirdemands; though Elmer was sure he could see a broad grin on theblackened face of the one who leaned out of the window to get away fromthe smoke.
"Here, take your baby, little girl!" he shouted hoarsely, as he began tolower away on a strange rope, which Elmer decided he must have made bytearing a sheet into long strips, and tying these together.
Something came down, foot by foot--something that struggled, and madefrantic attempts at getting free from the encircling rope.
"Wow! it's a pup!" shrieked the astonished Landy.
"Well, I do declare!" echoed Ted.
Elmer laughed aloud, as he started once more at the task of emptyingseveral buckets that had meanwhile arrived at the end of the humanchain. For wise Elmer had guessed the truth before the moment when theother two made their discovery.
The little girl darted for
ward and snatched the small woolly dog up themoment it touched the ground. She began to hug "Bennie" with all theardor of an indulgent little mistress; and, then freeing him from thetorn sheet, ran off toward the women as if to show her recovered prizeto her mother.
"Now come down yourself, Ty!" shouted Elmer. "Don't you think of goingback by way of the stairs, d'ye hear?"
Ty waved his hand. Perhaps his voice was utterly gone by this time,thanks to the smoke and his exertions. They saw him swing out of thewindow; and Elmer understood from this that at least the scout hadconsiderable power left in his arms and lower limbs.
Now his feet were on a little ledge that ran along the face of the houseabove the lower windows. Ty had noticed that a shutter was partly openand meant to make use of this in his descent. It was a clever idea, anddid the boy great credit in the way of judgment. A veteran fireman,accustomed to such things, could hardly have conceived a better plan ofcampaign.
Once his feet were planted on top of this, Ty gave a sudden move, andthey saw him slipping down until his ready hands caught the upper edgeof the heavy blind. After that he dropped to the ground in a heap, toquickly stagger to his feet once more.
"Hurrah for Ty!" shouted Landy, making the high sign of fellowship inthe direction of his chum; for he was too busily engaged just then tothink of abandoning his buckets in order to rush to Ty's side so as toshake hands with the hero of the occasion.
What if it was only a miserable little woolly pup that he had managed tosave from possible destruction; it would have been all the same had itbeen the real baby that the child had given him to understand was inperil. And Ty need never feel ashamed of his brave act. It shed newluster on the name of the Hickory Ridge Boy Scout troop; and Elmer wasdetermined that when the account was written up, there should be no hintof humor in the same that might reflect in any way on Ty's act.
Immediately Ty got busy again, and proceeded to fight the fire withrenewed vigor, though the poor fellow did look as though he had almostreached the end of his resources. Twice did Elmer tell him to drop out,and try to recover; but for once Ty refused to obey orders, under theplea that, as they were not really in uniform, it was not obligatory onhis part.
"Now something is going to happen!" said Landy, as he brushed past Elmerwhile warmly engaged; and at the same time he pointed across the openspace to where a party of stout farm hands had burst into view, runningas fast as they could toward the fire.
"More bucketh coming, boyth!" called Ted, who had seen that each one ofthe newcomers was armed with at least one big pail; which fact provedthat they must have suspected the cause of the wild alarm before theyleft home, and had provided in this wise manner against a dearth ofvessels for fighting the flames.
When those fellows got busy, hurrying up from the friendly creek, eachwith a fresh supply of energy, and a pair of big buckets that werefilled to the brim with the liquid so needful in order to check thespread of the flames, things began to look more cheerful.
"Now we've got it on the run, fellows!" cried Landy, almost hystericalthrough sheer weakness, and his grim determination not to give up solong as he could put one foot before the other.
"Thay, look at that giant bringing a wath boiler full of water at atime!" exclaimed the delighted Ted, almost forgetting to lisp, so greatwas his excitement. "When he geth thtarted, it'th good-by to the oldfire. Whoop! hear it thizzle, would you! Hit it again, mithter; it neverwill be mithed! Now it'th your turn, Elmer. One, two, three, and thet'em up again in the other alley! We win, boyth, we win!"