CHAPTER SIX.
RELATES A STIRRING INNOCENT.
Now it was at this critical moment that I chanced to come upon thescene.
I had just ascertained from the brass plate on the door that DrMcTougall dwelt there, and was thinking what an ugly unromantic namethat was for a pretty girl as I descended the steps, when Dumps's firstyell broke upon my astonished ears. I recognised the voice at once,though I must confess that the second yell from the interior of thewatering-pan perplexed me not a little, but the hideous clatter withwhich it was associated, and the sudden bursting out of flames in thedrawing-room, drove all thoughts of Dumps instantly away.
My first impulse was to rush to the nearest fire-station; but a wildshouting in the lobby of the house arrested me. I rang the bellviolently. At the same moment I heard the report of a pistol, and asavage curse, as a bullet came crashing through the door and went closepast my head. Then I heard a blow, followed by a groan. This wassucceeded by female shrieks overhead, and the violent undoing of thebolts, locks, and chains of the front door.
Thought is quick. Burglary flashed into my mind! A villainous-lookingfellow leaped out as the door flew open. I recognised him instantly asthe man who had sold Dumps to me. I put my foot in front of him. Hewent over it with a wild pitch, and descended the steps on his nose!
I was about to leap on him when a policeman came tearing round thecorner, just in time to receive the stunned Brassey with open arms, ashe rose and staggered forward.
"Just so. Don't give way too much to your feelings! I'll take care ofyou, my poor unfortunate fellow," said the policeman, as a brother inblue came to his assistance.
Already one of those ubiquitous creatures, a street-boy, had flown tothe fire-station on the wings of hope and joy, and an engine camecareering round the corner as I turned to rush up the stairs, which werealready filled with smoke.
I dashed in the first door I came to. A lady, partially clothed, stoodthere pale as death, and motionless.
"Quick, madam! descend! the house is on fire!" I gasped in sharpsentences as I seized her. "Where is your--your (she looked young)_sister_?" I cried, as she resisted my efforts to lead her out.
"I've no sister!" she shrieked.
"Your daughter, then! Quick, direct me!"
"Oh! my darling!" she cried, wringing her hands.
"Where?" I shouted in desperation, for the smoke was thickening.
"Up-stairs," she screamed, and rushed out, intending evidently to go up.
I caught her round the waist and forced her down the stairs, thrust herinto the arms of an ascending fireman, and then ran up again, takingthree steps at a time. The cry of a child attracted me. I made for adoor opposite, and burst it open. The scene that presented itself wasstriking. Out of four cribs and a cradle arose five cones ofbed-clothes, with a pretty little curly head surmounting each cone, andten eyes blazing with amazement. A tall nurse stood erect in the middleof the floor with outstretched arms, glaring.
Instantly I grasped a cone in each arm and bore it from the room.Blinded with smoke, I ran like a thunderbolt into the arms of a giganticfireman.
"Take it easy, sir. You'll do far more work if you keep cool. Straighton to front room! Fire-escape's there by this time."
I understood, and darted into a front room, through the window of whichthe head of the fire-escape entered at the same moment, sending glass insplinters all over us. It was immediately drawn back a little, enablingme to throw up the window-sash and thrust the two children into the armsof another fireman, whose head suddenly emerged from the smoke that rosefrom the windows below. I could see that the fire was roaring out intothe street, and lighting up hundreds of faces below, while the steadyclank of engines told that the brigade was busily at work fighting theflames. But I had no time to look or think. Indeed, I felt as if I hadno power of volition properly my own, but that I acted under the strongimpulse of another spirit within me.
Darting back towards the nursery I met the first fireman dragging withhis right hand the tall nurse, who seemed unreasonably to struggleagainst him, while in his left arm he carried two of the children, andthe baby by its night-dress in his teeth.
I saw at a glance that he had emptied the nursery, and turned to searchfor another door. During the whole of this scene--which passed in a fewminutes--a feeling of desperate anxiety possessed me as to the fate ofthe young lady to whom I had given up my doggie. I felt persuaded sheslept on the same floor with the children, and groped about the passagein search of another door. By this time the smoke was so dense that Iwas all but suffocated. A minute or two more and it would be too late.I could not see. Suddenly I felt a door and kicked it open. The blacksmoke entered with me, but it was still clear enough inside for me toperceive the form of a girl lying on the floor. It was she!
"Miss McTougall!" I shouted, endeavouring to rouse her; but she hadfainted. Not a moment now to lose. A lurid tongue of flame came up thestaircase. I rolled a blanket round the girl--head and all. She wasvery light. In the excitement of the moment I raised her as if she hadbeen a child, and darted back towards the passage, but the few moments Ihad lost almost cost us our lives. I knew that to breathe the densesmoke would be certain suffocation, and went through it holding mybreath like a diver. I felt as if the hot flames were playing round myhead, and smelt the singeing of my own hair. Another moment and I hadreached the window, where the grim but welcome head of the escape stillrested. With a desperate bound I went head first into the shoot, takingmy precious bundle along with me.
A fireman chanced to be going down the shoot at the time, carefullypiloting one of the maids who had been rescued from the attics, andchecking his speed with outspread legs. Against him I canonned withtremendous force, and sent him and his charge in a heap to the bottom.
This was fortunate, for the pace at which I must have otherwise comedown would have probably broken my neck. As it was, I felt so stunnedthat I nearly lost consciousness. Still I retained my sensessufficiently to observe a stout elderly little man in full eveningdress, with his coat slit up behind to his neck, his facehalf-blackened, and his shaggy hair flying wildly in all directions--chiefly upwards. Amid wild cheering from the crowd I confusedly heardthe conversation that followed.
"They're all accounted for now, sir," said a policeman, who supportedme.
The elderly gentleman had leaped forward with an exclamation of earnestthankfulness, and unrolled the blanket.
"Not hurt! No, thank God. Lift her carefully now. To the samehouse.--And who are you?" he added, turning and looking full at me as Ileaned in a dazed condition on the fireman's shoulder. I heard thequestion and saw the speaker, but could not reply.
"This is the gen'leman as saved two o' the child'n an' the young lady,"said the tall fireman, whom I recognised as the one into whose bosom Ihad plunged on the upper floor.
"Ay, an' he's the gen'leman," said another fireman, "who shoved yourmissus, sir, into my arms, w'en she was bent on runnin' up-stairs."
"Is this so?" said the little gentleman, stepping forward and graspingmy hand.
Still I could not speak. I felt as if the whole affair were a dream,and looked on and listened with a vacant smile.
Just at that moment a long, melancholy wail rose above the roaring ofthe fire and clanking of the engines.
The cry restored me at once.
"Dumps! my doggie!" I exclaimed; and, bursting through the crowd,rushed towards the now furiously-burning house, but strong handsrestrained me.
"What dog is it?" asked the elderly gentleman. A man, drenched,blackened, and bloodstained, whom I had not before observed, here said--
"A noo dog, sir, Dumps by name, come to us this wery day. We putt 'imin the scullery for the night."
Again I made a desperate effort to return to the burning house, but wasrestrained as before.
"All right, sir," whispered a fireman in a confidential tone, "I knowthe scullery. The fire ain't got down there yet. Your do
g can onlyhave bin damaged by water as yet. I'll save 'im sir, never fear."
He went off with a quiet little nod that did much to comfort me.Meanwhile the elderly gentleman sought to induce me to leave the placeand obtain refreshment in the house of a friendly neighbour, who hadtaken in his family.
"You need rest, my dear sir," he said; "come, I must take you in hand.You have rendered me a service which I can never repay. What?Obstinate! Do you know that I am a doctor, sir, and must be obeyed?"
I smiled, but refused to move until the fate of Dumps was ascertained.
Presently the fireman returned with my doggie in his arms.
Poor Dumps! He was a pitiable sight. Tons of hot water had beenpouring on his devoted head, and his shaggy, shapeless coat was soplastered to his long, little body, that he looked more like a drownedweazel than a terrier. He was trembling violently, and whinedpiteously, as they gave him to me; nevertheless, he attempted to wag histail and lick my hands. In both attempts he failed. His tail was toowet to wag--but it wriggled.
"He'd have saved himself, sir," said the man who brought him, "onlythere was a rope round his neck, which had caught on a coal-scuttle andheld him. He's not hurt, sir, though he do seem as if some one had bintryin' to choke him."
"My poor doggie!" said I, fondling him.
"He won't want washin' for some time to come," observed one of thebystanders.
There was a laugh at this.
"Come; now the dog is safe you have no reason for refusing to go withme," said the elderly gentleman, who, I now understood, was the masterof the burning house.
As we walked away he asked my name and profession, and I thought hesmiled with peculiar satisfaction when I said I was a student ofmedicine.
"Oh, indeed!" he said; "well--we shall see. But here we are. This isthe house of my good friend Dobson. City man--capital fellow, like allCity men--ahem! He has put his house at my disposal at this very tryingperiod of my existence."
"But are you sure, Dr McTougall, that _all_ the household is saved?" Iasked, becoming more thoroughly awake to the tremendous reality of thescene through which I had just passed.
"Sure! my good fellow, d'you think I'd be talking thus quietly to you ifI were _not_ sure? Yes, thanks to you and the firemen, under God,there's not a hair of their heads injured."
"Are you--I beg pardon--are you quite sure? Have you seen MissMcTougall since she--"
"Miss McTougall!" exclaimed the doctor, with a laugh. "D'you mean mylittle Jenny by that dignified title?"
"Well, of course, I did not know her name, and she is not _very_ large;but I brought her down the shoot with such violence that--"
An explosion of laughter from the doctor stopped me as I entered a largelibrary, the powerful lights of which at first dazzled me.
"Here, Dobson, let me introduce you to the man who has saved my wholefamily, and who has mistaken Miss Blythe for my Jenny!--Why, sir," hecontinued, turning to me, "the bundle you brought down sounceremoniously is only my governess. Ah! I'd give twenty thousandpounds down on the spot if she were only my daughter. My Jenny will bea lucky woman if she grows up to be like her."
"I congratulate you, Mr Mellon," said the City man, shaking me warmlyby the hand.
"You have acted with admirable promptitude--which is most important at afire--and they tell me that the header you took into the escape, withMiss Blythe in your arms, was the finest acrobatic feat that has beenseen off the stage."
"I say, Dobson, where have you stowed my wife and the children? I wantto introduce him to them."
"In the dining-room," returned the City man. "You see, I thought itwould be more agreeable that they should be all together until theirnerves are calmed, so I had mattresses, blankets, etcetera, broughtdown. Being a bachelor, as you know, I could do nothing more than placethe wardrobes of my domestics at the disposal of the ladies. The thingsare not, indeed, a very good fit, but--this way, Mr Mellon."
The City man, who was tall and handsome, ushered his guests into what hestyled his hospital, and there, ranged in a row along the wall, werefive shakedowns, with a child on each. Seldom have I beheld a finersight than the sparkling lustre of their ten still glaring eyes! Twopleasant young domestics were engaged in feeding the smaller ones withjam and pudding. We arrange the words advisedly, because the jam was,out of all proportion, too much for the pudding. The elder childrenwere feeding themselves with the same materials, and in the samerelative proportions. Mrs McTougall, in a blue cotton gown with whitespots, which belonged to the housemaid, reclined on a sofa; she wasdeadly pale, and the expression of horror was not quite removed from hercountenance.
Beside her, administering restoratives, sat Miss Blythe, in a chintzdress belonging to the cook, which was ridiculously too large for her.She was dishevelled and flushed, and looked so pleasantly anxious aboutMrs McTougall that I almost forgave her having robbed me of my doggie.
"Miss Blythe, your deliverer!" cried the little doctor, who seemed todelight in blowing my trumpet with the loudest possible blast; "my dear,your preserver!"
I bowed in some confusion, and stammered something incoherently. MrsMcTougall said something else, languidly, and Miss Blythe rose and heldout her hand with a pleasant smile.
"Well, if this isn't one of the very jolliest larks I ever had!"exclaimed Master Harry from his corner, between two enormous spoonfuls.
"Hah!" exclaimed Master Jack.
He could say no more. He was too busy!
We all laughed, and, much to my relief, general attention was turned tothe little ones.
"You young scamps!--the `lark' will cost me some thousands of pounds,"said the doctor.
"Never mind, papa. Just go to the bank and they'll give you as much asyou want."
"More pooding!" demanded Master Job. The pleasant-faced domestichesitated.
"Oh! give it him. Act the banker on this occasion, and give him as muchas he wants," said the doctor.
"Good papa!" exclaimed the overjoyed Jenny; "how I wis' we had a houseon fire every night!"
Even Dolly crowed with delight at this, as if she really appreciated theidea, and continued her own supper with increased fervour.
Thus did that remarkable family spend the small hours of that morning,while their home was being burned to ashes.