CHAPTER XIII
A Heroine's Come-Down
MABEL, with the Janitor and four pursuing firemen at her recklessheels, had made a bold dash through the long corridor that led to MissBonner's room. Owing to a strong upward draft, there was surprisinglylittle smoke in this corridor and none at all in Miss Bonner's distantcorner.
Still hotly pursued, Mabel, who had the advantage of knowing exactlywhither she was bound, darted down the narrow aisle, reached into herdesk, and, unselfishly passing by sundry dearly loved treasures of herown, seized the fat brown purse. Such joy to find it when so many ofthe desks had been stripped of their contents!
She was none too soon, for the next moment the Janitor's hands hadclosed upon her and, plump as she was, the sturdy fellow easilycarried her out of the room, although Mabel protested crossly that shewould much rather walk. In this uncomfortable fashion they reached thecorridor.
THE STURDY FELLOW CARRIED HER OUT OF THE ROOM.]
"Not that way--not that way!" shouted the firemen, pointing towardsa glowing, spreading patch on the ceiling of the main hall. "It'sbreaking through--you can't reach the door! It's not safe at that end."
"Down to the basement!" shouted the Janitor, nodding toward a narrowdoorway, through which the men promptly vanished.
Then, seemingly, a new thought assailed the Janitor.
"Open door number twelve," he shouted after the men.
Then, hurriedly pushing up a sliding door at the safest end of the halland murmuring "Quicker this way," the Janitor unceremoniously liftedMabel and dropped her down the big dust-chute.
What a place for a heroine! In spite of her surprise, Mabel feltdeeply mortified. It was humiliating enough for a would-be rescuer tobe rescued; but to be dropped down a horrid, stuffy dust-chute andto land with a queer, springy thud on a pile of sliding stuff--thecontents of a dozen or more waste-baskets and the results ofinnumerable sweepings--was worse.
In a very few seconds, the hasty Janitor had opened the lower door ofthe chute and, with the firemen standing by, was calmly hauling her outby her feet--Oh! She could _never_ tell that part of it.
And then, as if that were not bad enough, that inconsiderate Janitorseized her by the elbow and hurried her right into the coal bin, forcedher to march over eighty tons of black, dusty, sliding coal and finallycompelled her to crawl--yes, _crawl_--out of a small basement window onthe safest side of the building. The only explanation that the rescuervouchsafed was a gruff statement that the fire was "More to the otherend" and that short-cuts saved time. Mabel tried to tell him what_she_ thought about it, but the Janitor seemed too excited to listen.
Of course, by this time, the Bennetts, the Cottagers, the firemen, theJanitor's wife and most of the bystanders were in a perfectly dreadfulstate of mind; for the coal-hole window was not on their side of thebuilding--Mabel was glad of that--so none of her friends witnessedher exit. The Cottagers, in particular, were clutching each other andfairly quaking with fear when a familiar voice behind them pantedbreathlessly:
"I saved it, girls."
Jean, Marjory and Bettie wheeled as one girl. It was certainly Mabel'svoice, the shape and size were Mabel's, but the color----
"Oh!" cried Jean, in a horrified tone. "Are you _burned_? Are you allburned up to a crisp?"
But thoughtful Bettie, after one searching look to make certain thatit really was Mabel, had not stopped to ask questions, nor to hearthem answered. She remembered that the Bennetts were still anxiousconcerning their missing daughter, and straightway flew to relievetheir minds.
"She's safe, Mabel's safe," she shouted, running to the Bennetts, toMr. Black, to the Tuckers, to all Mabel's friends, and completelyforgetting her own usual shyness. "Yes, she's all safe. No, not burned;just scorched, I guess."
Then everybody crowded around Mabel. Mrs. Bennett was about to kissher, but desisted just in time.
"Mabel!" she cried, as Jean had done. "Are you burned?"
"No," mumbled Mabel, indignantly. "I'm not even singed. I--I just cameout through the coal hole, but you needn't tell. That horrid Janitordragged me out over a whole mountain of coal."
"Thank Heaven!" breathed Mrs. Bennett.
"Huh!" snorted Mabel, "that's a mighty queer thing to thank Heaven for,when it was only last night that I had a perfectly good bath. That'sthe meanest Janitor----"
"Where is he?" demanded Dr. Bennett, eagerly. "I must thank him."
"Yes," said Mrs. Bennett, "I must thank him too."
"And I," said Dr. Tucker, "should like to shake hands with him."
And would you believe it! Not a soul had a word of praise for Mabel'sbravery. Not a person commended her for saving that precious purse.Instead, the local paper devoted a whole column to lauding the promptaction of that sickening Janitor, Dr. Bennett gave him a splendid goldwatch, the School Board recommended him for a Carnegie medal--allbecause of the dust-chute.
"Don't let me hear any more," Dr. Bennett said that night, "about thatmiserable two dollars and forty-seven cents. I'd rather give you twohundred and forty-seven dollars than have you take such risks."
"Yes, sir," rejoined Mabel, meekly. "But you didn't say anything likethat day before yesterday when I asked for three more cents to make itan even two-fifty. I must say I don't understand grown folks."
"Mabel, you go--go take that bath. And when you're clean enough tokiss, come back and say good-night."
"Yes, sir," sighed Mabel, "but I _do_ wish I _could_ raise three morecents."
Mr. Bennett fished two quarters and three pennies from his pocket andhanded them to Mabel.
"There," said he, "you have an even three dollars, but I hope you won'tconsider it necessary to rescue them in case of any more fires."
Fortunately, there were no more fires; but the original one made up forthis lack by lasting for an astonishing length of time. For seven daysthe school building continued to burn in a safe but expensive manner;for the eighty tons of coal over which Mabel had walked so unwillinglyhad caught fire late in the afternoon and had burned steadily untilentirely reduced to ashes. It was a strange, uncanny sight after darkto see the mighty ruin still lighted by a fitful glare from within.Only the four walls, the bare outer shell of the huge structure,remained. You see, all the rest of it had been wood--and steam pipes.Every splinter of wood was gone; but the pipes, and there seemed tobe miles of them, were twisted like mighty serpents. They filled thecellar and seemed fairly to writhe in the scarlet glow. It made onethink of dragons and volcanoes and things like that; and caused creepyfeelings in one's spine.
Even the dust-chute was gone. Mabel was glad of that. She hated tothink of the Janitor proudly pointing it out to visitors and saying:
"I once dropped a girl down there."