CHAPTER TWELVE.
THROUGH FIRE AND SMOKE TO FELICITY.
Free once more, David Laidlaw naturally directed his steps towardsCherub Court.
His freedom was the result of Mr Dean's labours, for with theinformation which he had ferreted out that sedate individual found nodifficulty in proving the innocence of our Scotsman, and the guilt, inmore matters than one, of Mr John Lockhart. The latter was, however,too wide-awake for our detective, for when a warrant was obtained forhis apprehension, and Mr Dean went to effect the capture, it was foundthat the bird had flown with a considerable amount of clients' propertyunder his wing!
Although Laidlaw's period of incarceration had been unusually brief, ithad afforded ample time for meditation. David's powers of meditationwere strong--his powers of action even stronger. While in his cell hehad opened his little Bible--the only book allowed him--and turned tothe passage which states that, "it is not good that man should bealone." Then he turned to that which asserts that, "a good wife is fromthe Lord," after which he sat on his bench a long time with his eyesclosed--it might be in meditation, perhaps in prayer. The only wordsthat escaped him, however, were in a murmur.
"Ay, mither, ye're right. Ye've been right iver since _I_ kent ye. Butye'll be sair putt aboot, woman, whan ye hear that she's a waux doll!Doll, indeed! angel wad be mair like the truth. But haud ye there,David, ye've no gotten her yet."
With some such thoughts in his brain, and a fixed resolve in his heart,he presented himself in the garden on the roof, where he found old Liz,Susy, and Sam Blake assembled. They all seemed as if oppressed by somedisappointment, but their looks changed instantly on the entrance of thevisitor. Susy, especially, sprang up with a bright smile, but observingthe readiness and the look with which Laidlaw advanced to meet her, shechecked herself, blushed, and looked as well as felt confused.
"My poor little girl is greatly put about" said Sam Blake inexplanation, "because she's just heard from Samson and Son that they'vetoo many hands already, an' don't want her."
"Don't _want_ her?" exclaimed the Scot; "they're born eediots!"
The emphasis with which this was said caused Susy to laugh, and todiscover that her skirt had been caught by a nail in one of theflower-boxes. At the same time a vague suspicion for the first timeentered the head of old Liz, causing her to wobble the fang with vigourand look at Laidlaw with some anxiety.
At this critical moment feet were heard clattering and stumbling up thestair as if in tremendous haste. Next moment Tommy burst upon theirvision in a full suit of superfine blue with brass buttons!
"Tommy!" exclaimed Susy in amazement.
"No, madam--no. Tummas, if _you_ please," said the boy with dignity,though almost bursting with suppressed excitement. "I'm man-servant toColonel John Brentwood, Esquire, M.P., F.R.Z.Q.T., Feller of the RoyalSociety--an' good society, an' every other society. Salary not yetfixed; lodgin', washin', an' wittles found. Parkisites warious."
"But why didn't you tell us of this before?" asked Liz, patting theurchin's head and smiling benignantly.
"'Cause I wanted to screw you up vith surprise, an' I've done it too!But I've on'y jest entered on my dooties, and 'ave bin sent immedingtlywith a message that you an Susy are expected to pay us a wisit, which isnow doo, an' Mr Da-a-a-vid Laidlaw is to go there right away--vithoutdelay--as we say in the poetical vest end."
"And when are Susy and I expected?" asked Liz.
"To-morrer."
"But what _are_ you, Tommy? What are you engaged to do?" asked Susy.
"Play wi' the knives, amoose myself wi' the boots and shoes of amornin', entertain wisitors at the door with brief conversations, takeoccasional strolls with messages, be a sorter companion to Miss Rosa,wots to be married in a veek or two, and, ginerally, to enjoy myself.I'm a tiger, I is, but I don't growl--oh no! I only purr. My name isTummas, an' my 'ome is marble 'alls!"
Our Scotsman went off without delay in response to the message, and wasthus prevented from carrying out his "fixed resolve" just then.However, he wouldn't give in, not he! he would soon find a moreconvenient opportunity.
Meanwhile Tommy Splint having particularly requested and obtained leaveto spend the night--his last night before going to service--with his"granny," he and Sam set to work in the garden to rig up temporarysleeping arrangements _a la_ Robinson Crusoe, for it was arranged thatthey should have a grand supper in the garret in honour of the rescue ofLaidlaw--the returned convict, _alias_ ticket-of-leave man, as Tommycalled him--and that the males of the party should thereafter sleep inthe garden.
Need we say that the supper-party was jovial? We think not. The"ticket-of-leave man" and the "tiger" were inimitable in their ownlines, and Sam came out so strong on the "pirits" of the PhilippineIslands that the tiger even declared himself to be satiated with blood!As for Susy--she would have been an amply sufficient audience for eachof the party, had all the others been away, and the fang of old Lizbecame riotously demonstrative, though she herself remained silentgazing from one face to another with her glittering black eyes.
Finally the ladies retired to rest in the garret, and the gentlemen wentto sleep in the garden.
Ah! how very old, yet ever new, is the word that man "knows not what anhour may bring forth!" Forces unseen, unthought of, are ever at workaround us, from the effects of which, it may be, human strength ispowerless to deliver.
That night, late--or rather, about the early hours of morning--a spark,which earlier in the night had fallen from the pipe of a drunkard in thepublic-house below, began to work its deadly way through the boarding ofthe floor. For a long time there was little smoke and no flame.Gradually, however, the spark grew to a burning mass, which created thedraught of air that fanned it.
It chanced that night that, under the influence of some irresistibleimpulse or antagonistic affinity like a musical discord, Mrs Rampy andMrs Blathers were discussing their friends and neighbours in the abodeof the former, without the softening influence of the teapot and oldLiz.
"I smells a smell!" exclaimed Mrs Rampy, sniffing.
"Wery likely," remarked Mrs Blathers; "your 'ouse ain't over-clean."
But the insinuation was lost on Mrs Rampy, who was naturally keen ofscent. She rose, ran to the window, opened it, thrust out herdishevelled head, and exclaimed "_Fire_!"
"No, it ain't," said her friend; "it's on'y smoke."
Unfortunately the two women wondered for a few precious minutes and ranout to the court, into which, from a back window of the public-house,smoke was slowly streaming. Just then a slight glimmer was seen in thesame window.
"Fire! fire!" yelled Mrs Rampy, now thoroughly alarmed.
"Smoke! smo-o-o-oke!" shrieked Mrs Blathers. The two women were giftedwith eminently persuasive lungs. All the surrounding courts and streetswere roused in a few minutes, and poured into the lanes and alleys whichled to Cherub Court.
That extremely vigilant body, the London Fire Brigade, had their nearestengines out in two minutes. Many of the more distant men were roused bytelegraph. Though in bed, partially clad and asleep, at one moment, thenext moment they were leaping into boots and pantaloons which stoodagape for them. Brass-helmeted, and like comets with a stream of firebehind them, they were flying to the rescue five minutes after the yelland shriek of "Fi-i-ire!" and "Smo-o-o-oke!"
Owing to the great elevation of the garden, and its being surrounded bystacks of chimneys, it was some minutes before the sleepers there werearoused. Then, like giants refreshed, David and Sam leapt from theirbunks, and, like Jack-in-the-box, Tommy Splint shot from his kennel.There was no occasion to dress. In the circumstances the three hadturned in, as Sam expressed it, "all standing."
They rushed at the door of the garret, but it was bolted on the inside.Susy, who had been awake, had heard the alarm and drawn the bolt so asto give time for hastily throwing on a few garments. The men thunderedviolently and tried to force the door, but the door was strong, and aninstinctive feeling of delicacy restrained the
m for a few seconds frombursting it open.
"Susy! Susy!" roared the father; "open! Quick! Fire!"
"One moment, father. I'm dressing granny, and--"
A loud shriek terminated the sentence, for the flames, gathering headwaywith wild rapidity, had burst-up some part of the liquor den at thebasement and went roaring up the staircase, sending dense clouds ofsmoke in advance.
This was enough. Laidlaw threw his heavy bulk against the door, burstlock and hinge, and sent it flat on the garret floor. Blinding smokemet and almost choked him as he fell, and Sam, tumbling over him, caughtup the first person his hands touched and bore her out. It was oldLiz--half dressed, and wrapped in a blanket! Susy, also half dressed,and with a shawl wrapped round her shoulders, was carried out byLaidlaw. Both were unhurt, though half stifled by smoke, and greatlyalarmed.
"Ye ken the hoose, Tammy; hoo shall we gang?"
"There's _no_ way to escape!" cried the poor boy, with a distractedlook.
One glance at the staircase convinced Laidlaw that escape in thatdirection was impossible. Plunging into the garret again he seized thedoor and jammed it into its place, thus stopping the gush of blacksmoke, and giving them a few minutes breathing space.
"Is there a rope in the garret?" asked Sam eagerly.
"No--nothink o' the kind," gasped Tommy.
"No sheets,--blankets?" asked the Scot.
"Only two or three," replied Susan, who supported Liz in the rusticchair. "They're much worn, and not enough to reach _near_ the ground."
It was no time for useless talk. The two men said no more, but sprangon the parapet outside the garden, to find, if possible, a way of escapeby the roofs of the neighbouring houses. The sight they beheld wassufficiently appalling. The fire which raged below them cast a noondayglare over the wilderness of chimney-stacks around, revealing the awfulnature of their position, and, in one direction, thousands of upturnedfaces. The men were observed as they ran along the parapet, and a deephoarse cry from the sympathetic multitude rose for a few moments abovethe roaring of the flames.
On two sides the walls of the building went sheer down, sixty feet ormore, without a break, into a yard which bristled with broken wood andold lumber. Evidently death faced them in that direction. The thirdside was the gable-end of the garret. On the fourth side there was adescent of twelve feet or so on to the roof of the next block, whichhappened to be lower--but that block was already in flames.
"There is our chief hope," said the sailor, pointing to it.
"Nay," responded Laidlaw in a low voice, pointing upwards--"oor mainhope is _there_! I thocht they had fire-escapes here," he added,turning to Tommy, who had joined them.
"So they 'ave, but no escape can be got down the yards 'ere. Thehalleys is too narrer."
"Come, I'll git a blankit to lower Susan and auld Liz," said Laidlaw,hastening back to the garden, where the trembling women awaited theresult of their inspection.
While the Scotsman removed the door and dashed once again into thesmoke-filled garret, the sailor hurriedly explained to the women whatthey were going to attempt, and impressed upon them the necessity ofsubmitting entirely to whatever was required of them, "which will be,"he said, "chiefly to shut your eyes an' keep quiet."
Laidlaw quickly returned with a couple of sheets and a blanket. Samknotted the sheets together in sailor-like fashion, while his friendmade a secure bundle of old Liz with the blanket. Sam was lowered firstto the roof of the tenement which we have said was already on fire, andstood ready to receive Liz. She was safely let down and the sheet-ropewas detached.
"We'll no mak' a bundle o' _you_," said David, turning to Susy; "jistputt it roond yer waist."
When she was safely lowered, Tommy was grasped by an arm and let downtill his feet rested on Sam's head, whence he easily leaped to the roof,and then David let himself drop. To reach a place of temporary safetythey had now to walk on the top of a partition of old brick, about eightinches wide, a fall from which, on one side, meant death, on the otherside, broken bones at the least. They knew that a loose brick or afalse step might be fatal, but there was no alternative.
Sam turned to his daughter: "Ye could never cross that, Susy?" he said.
Although no coward, the poor girl shrank from the giddy ledge, which wasrendered more dangerous and terrible by being now surrounded byoccasional puffs of smoke and clouds of steam from the water of a dozenhydrants which by that time were playing into the raging flames. To addto the horrors of the situation, beams and masses of masonry were heardoccasionally crashing in the interior of the building.
Sam advanced to take Susy in his arms, but Laidlaw stepped between them.
"Leave her t' me," he said; "the auld woman's lichter, an' ye're no saestrong as me."
Saying which, he lifted the girl in his left arm as if she had been buta little child, and mounted the parapet keeping his right arm free tobalance himself or cling to anything if need be. Sam, who was quiteequal to the emergency, took old Liz into his arms and followed, butcast one glance back at Tommy.
"Never mind me, Sam," cried the boy, who, having got over his firstpanic, rose heroically to the occasion.
The crowd below saw what they were attempting, and gave them a cheer ofencouragement, yet with bated breath, as if they dreaded the issue.
A few seconds and they were past that danger, but still stood on theburning house at another part of the roof. Here, being suddenlydrenched by spray from one of the engines, Sam and Tommy made for theshelter of a chimney-stack. As there was not room behind it for more,Laidlaw carried his light burden to another stack, and looked hastilyround to see what next could be done. Just at that moment there was awild cheer below, in the midst of which a stentorian voice came to them,as it were, on the wings of fire and smoke--"Stay where you are aminute--the escape is coming!"
"Thank God!" exclaimed Laidlaw, looking down at the fair head whichrested on his shoulder. The cheeks were deadly white and the eyesclosed, but the pressure of her arms showed that the girl clung to himfor very life. A bright shower of sparks at the moment flew aroundthem. "Heeven an' pandemonium brought thegither!" he thought as he bentover to protect her. His face was very near to hers!
"My puir wee doo!" he muttered, and placed a timid kiss upon the palecheek, which instantly coloured as if the fires around had suddenlykindled them.
"O lassie, forgi'e me! I didna mean to do _tha_--I railly--did--not,--but I couldna help it! I wad hae waited till ye gie'd me leave. Butafter a'--what for no? I thought t' ask ye t' gie me the right thisvery day. And O lassie! if I might only hope that--"
He stopped, and _something_ induced him to do _that_ again. At the samemoment another mighty roar ascended from the crowd, and the head of thegreat fire-escape rose like a solemn spectre through smoke, fire, andsteam, not ten yards from where he stood.
"Hooray!" shouted Tommy, for he felt that they were saved. Laidlaw saidnothing, but sprang to the head of the ladder, got carefully upon it,and began steadily to descend with Susy. Sam was about to follow withold Liz, but glanced at Tommy.
"Go first, lad."
"Arter you, mate," said the boy, stepping politely back; "you see,tigers, like captings, are always last to leave a sinkin' ship."
It was neither the time nor place for ceremony. With somethingapproaching almost to a laugh, the seaman got on the ladder as smartlyas he would have taken to the shrouds of a ship, and Tommy followed.
Half-way down they met a swirl of smoke, with an occasional tongue offlame shooting through it from a shattered window. At the same momentthey encountered a brass-helmeted fellow springing boldly up through thesame to the rescue.
"Gang doon again, freen'," shouted Laidlaw, when his heel came incontact with the helmet. "We're a' safe here."
He paused just a moment to draw the shawl completely over Susy's headand arms, and to pull her dress well round her feet. Then, burying hisface in the same shawl and shutting his eyes, he descended steadily butswiftly. For
a moment or two the rounds of the ladder felt like heatediron bars, and there was a slight frizzling of his brown curly locks atthe back. Then a fresh draught of air and a tremendous stream of waterthat nigh washed him off the ladder.
Next moment they were safe on the ground, in the midst of thewildly-cheering crowd, through which burst Mrs Rampy in a flood ofjoyful tears, and seized old Liz in her arms. Mrs Blathers followedclose at her heels.
"My!" she exclaimed in sudden amazement, staring at old Liz's, "it'sgone!"
"So it is," cried Mrs Rampy, for once agreeing.
And so it was! The last fang belonging to chimney-pot Liz had perishedin that great conflagration!
Many were the offers that old Liz received of house accommodation thatnight, from the lowest of washerwomen to the highest of tradesmen, butSam Blake, in her behalf, declined them all, and proceeded to the mainstreet to hail a cab.
"She ain't 'urt, is she? You're not takin' 'er to a hospital?" criedone of the crowd. "You'll come back agin to stay with us, Liz--won'tyou?"
"No, we won't," cried a boy's voice. "We've come into our fortins, an'are a-goin' to live in the vest end for ever an' ever."
"Who's that blue spider?" asked a boy; "w'y--no--surely it ain't--yes--Ido b'lieve it's Tommy Splint!"
"Don't believe Tommy, friends," said old Liz, as she was about to getinto the cab. "I'll soon be back again to see you. Trust me!"
This was received with a tremendous cheer, as they all got inside exceptLaidlaw, who mounted the box.
"Stop!" said the latter, as the coachman was about to drive off. Hepointed to the burning house, where the raging fire had reached theroof-tree. The crowd seemed awed into silence as they gazed.
One swirl more of the flaming tongues and the Garret was consumed--another swirl, and the Garden was licked from the scene as effectuallyas though it had never been.