CHAPTER XIV
JACK'S CHANCE
"Wow! look at that, will you?"
"It's a barn most likely!"
"Don't you believe it. I can see the roof of the house! Say, I believe itmust be that old Bradley place! Come along, fellows!"
"There are the firemen on the run! They'll have old Rescue No. 1 on thejump in a jiffy. Hey, fellers, let's get busy, and pull the hose cart for'em!"
"Bully idea. Lead the way, Paul! It's up to you to show us how!"
With these and many more cries the Boy Scouts bore down on the buildingthat sheltered the lone fire department of the town. This consisted ofa cast-off engine in good repair which had been purchased from some bigcity, where they were installing an auto in place of horse power forpropelling their machines; and a hose reel, the latter to be drawn bya line of men.
Of course the assembling firemen were only too glad of the offered aid.To have a score of husky boys appear so readily on the scene, ready forbusiness, was in the line of a "snap."
Accordingly, while some of the men got the horses hitched to the engine,and others started the fire going, the hose cart was rushed out, and itslong rope eagerly seized by the waiting boys.
Paul was at the end of the line, for a scout leader must live up to hisreputation as a general, no matter what the emergency.
"Pull!" went forth the cry, and immediately the hose reel started off inthe direction where a flash of fiery red announced that the excitementwas centred.
Nothing could please such an energetic lot of lads more than a chance tomake themselves useful in this way. They pulled with a will, and passedalong the road leading out of the town, on a wild run.
The one who had declared that it was the old Bradley house that was onfire must have had the situation well in mind. Perhaps he lived in thatneighborhood, and was better able to judge than the balance of the boys.At any rate all of them had by now made sure of the fact.
Paul remembered that a family, in which were quite a number of children,had lately come to town, and taken the big ramshackle building.
The thought gave him a thrill, and inwardly he found himself hoping thatnone of them might be caught in that fire-trap.
"There comes the old machine!" shouted the fellow who, not being able toget a grip on the rope by which the hose wagon was drawn, trotted in therear, and made out to push.
Yes, they could hear the shouts of the excited fire laddies now, and alsocatch the sound of galloping horses.
Looking over his shoulder, Paul saw a medley of moving lights, evidentlythe lanterns carried by the volunteers. These were doubtless clad intheir old toggery and fire hats, the foreman with his silver trumpet inevidence, without which no respectable fire would think of allowingitself to be quenched.
And a rising column of sparks attested to the fact that the fire in theengine was in full blast, so that steam would be ready by the time thescene of operations was reached.
"One side, boys, and let them pass! Give them plenty of room!" calledPaul.
He had seen that old engine booming along to a fire on many an occasion,and remembered that the driver, Hank Seeris, was inclined to be areckless hand; for as a rule the machine was wobbling from side toside, and threatening to overturn at any minute.
Up to this date that catastrophe had never happened; but Paul rememberedthe old saying that "a pitcher may go to the well once too often;" and hehad fears.
It proved that they were well grounded too, after the hose reed hadsafely negotiated the last bend in the road, and the burning dwelling wasin plain sight.
"Look at them coming, full tilt! They will be over at the turn!" shriekedBobolink, who, being near the tail end of the double line could observewhat was taking place without hindrance.
Immediately there arose a chorus of loud shouts, as of warning. Butapparently Hank Seeris must have been indulging in more liquor than wasgood for him; or else he happened to be in an unusually reckless state.
"They're going over!" howled Bobolink.
"Smash!"
"Oh! there goes our only engine to the scrap heap!" exclaimed JudElderkin, in dismay; for his father happened to be the foreman, and itlooked just then as though the gallant fireman might be without a job.
Paul ran back, as did most of the boys, thinking that something terriblemust have happened.
The plunging horses had been pulled down, and a man was already sittingon the head of each to keep them from kicking further. There aregenerally some wise persons present in such a calamity, who know justwhat ought to be done.
Willing hands were already unhitching the horses, so that they could betaken out of the way, and the ditched engine upraised.
"Where's Hank, the driver! Is he hurt?" asked some one; and Paulrecognized the old minister, who must have been on the way home fromvisiting when the alarm burst out, and hence he had accompanied the firefighters, eager to lend a hand at the rescue work.
"Here he is, and just comin' to, after being knocked senseless. Hankain't hurted, I reckon," answered a citizen who had run with the machine.
"How about the engine--is she much damaged?" asked the foreman, as menset about raising the heavy Rescue No. 1.
"Out of business for this trip, Elderkin. She'll never work again tillshe's gone down to the city for repairs," came the answer.
A groan of dismay went up.
"That settles the fate of the old Bradley house, then," declared many, asthey saw the flames and smoke apparently increasing.
Everybody was now anxious to get on the scene, and the engine was left incharge of a watcher, while the crowd rushed along, exchanging views ofthe accident, and the chances of saving the building by means of a bucketbrigade.
The foreman proved himself to be the right man in the right place. Heinstantly organized a double line of men and boys, leading from the creeknear by, up to the house that was burning.
Every imaginable species of bucket and tin pail was pressed into use. Menand boys invaded the kitchen and captured all sorts of utensils, frommilkpans to butter firkins.
These were put into use, and passed along as rapidly as those at thecreek end could plunge them in, and fill them with water.
At the other terminus the foreman and his assistants took the waterpails, and dashed the contents here and there as opportunity arose.
The Boy Scouts were nearly all somewhere in the line, and workingvalorously. For the time being they utterly forgot they were dressed intheir new suits of khaki, and that the pails slopped over continuously,soon soaking them to the skin.
Cheered on by the appeals of their leader they never flinched. It was thefirst chance Paul had of seeing how his enlisted followers could forgetself, and rise grandly to an occasion.
When any one showed signs of tiring he was quickly crowded out of theline by another eager willing worker. Indeed, there seemed to be threeapplicants for each job; and had there been more buckets several linesmight have been formed to make use of that accommodating creek.
Jack, after a little, found himself pushed aside by another scout, whowanted to exercise his muscles, and could wait no longer.
Seeing a group around some children, and hearing sudden cries from awoman, Jack hurried across the lawn. Somehow he seemed to fear thatnew trouble had broken out; and when he saw a half-clad figure wringingher hands, and shrieking, he realized that his suspicions were going toprove true.
"What is it?" he asked, of another scout, coming away from the group.
"Her baby. She says it is in the house!" replied the boy, whose face waswhite with the horror of it all.
"What?" cried Jack; "did she forget her own baby, then?"
"She thought her husband had it. He's a sick man too. See, that's himthey are holding back there. He wants to go in for the baby, and theywon't let him. Oh! Jack, I'd like to do it, but I'm afraid of fire. Ijust dassent!" sobbed the boy.
Jack waited to hear no more. His blood seemed to be on fire, and histeeth came together with a click.
A
nother moment and he was in the group, eagerly plying the almostdistracted mother with questions as to which room her baby had been in.Fortunately Jack had once known a boy living in the old Bradley mansion;so that the interior of the house was not strange to him.
"Our bedroom--it is the corner one where the tower stands. The one thathas the alcove!" the lady managed to cry, as she caught his arm, andlooked, oh, so pleadingly, in his boyish, determined face.
After that Jack would have risked anything in the attempt to save thatinnocent little one. He rushed off without saying a word. Several putout a hand to stop him, under the belief that it was useless, since thatportion of the building seemed to be a mass of flames by now. But Jackdodged them just as he did when running with the ball on the footballfield.
When he dashed into the house, disappearing in the volume of smoke thatpoured from the open doorway, a groan went up from the great crowd; forthey doubted as to whether he would ever be seen alive again.