The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 7, 1904, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. + : * N view of the surprising of really good books g the past season those that m ea r or mor | 2 o B . y; none s wo Van- re t h Tarkington, | n , be better | s n he fact that t creation is said to be | ¢ best novel ever writ- | e talented young au- | o Monsieur Beaucaire™ “A Gentleman From Indi- ana™ It is a stirring story, and | so great hes been the demand for it that the Sunday Call, fol- | lowing its literary policy of giv- | ing its resders the very best American literature obtainable, | has secured it by special ar- | rangements w the publishers. | It will therefore be printed complete in the Call Magazine i | 4 & Phillips & Co. ared upon it im- of & gentleman, &nd in evening brass trumpet about his shoul- noise grew less; the shouting e crowd became al- ss, with a [ t the figure, climbing . D above their heads rungs beneath, came a hel 3 et and was the last, and sagged to- ng wall with the weight rths o the way to fled com- & ladder, of spiked Then he ested on top; here he s back to the wall, adder high over ted against the brought it down e spiked hooks In ves projected fully left the grappling-lad- distance out from the above the appling this breath with There was a small plled-up packing boxes session of which had been mpany of raggamuffinish d herself standing x and sharing the questionable youths, ting her action in so strained was the f her attention upon the n the rose glow against The man, surely, ng to trust himself oden web hanging Where w: Miss Ba- ermitted 1t? Ah, it hon, and madwo- € accepted this mad- e compelled him to ce, and thereafter n the house when- & th these roof was to be mounted or . ewe's property lost. Al- ;L y ttle flames were dancing up tr he shingles, where firebrands en, their number increasing h second. S > Vanrevel raised 1c hard grip upon the ng the grappling-ladder t with his weight; the iron er into t roof; they himself out into the beneath him, caught er his knee, and for a mo- e the crowd with- then a cloud of at way, made him Y nucleus of itself, altogether, and, as it pward, showed the ladder s0 that at first there en they thought that at, as the smoke re was the tall figure on the » of clonsedl &% agile and a daring thing to do, and t ho did it was might- Iy applauded. The cheering bothered hirr for he was trying to make nderstand, below, what would happe e engine company " se t § not sent through the nes direct nd what he gaid abo to the eers in- t would have -blanched kK of most inventive Span- nquisitor that ever ljved. tt *sture as if to a ering distance. * she said In an 1 tone, without oud, and Mr. hundred feet part conscious of A her remark. He re- garment with alacrity, and, % of the tardy water, began | upon the firebrands out him; the sheer A man in a rage, do- when others failed f sparks fell upon him; ke was rising everywhere from and the walls below; and, denser and denser, shrouded heavy veils, so that, as he ran ther, now visible, now un- ng and beating and sweep- the brands that fell, he e red and ghostly carica- xes, ineffectually lashing hey were calling to him im- y to down, in heaven's me down! nd man had followed to the Top of the ladder against the wall, and there he paused, waiting to pass up the line of hose when the word should come that the force pump had been repaired; but the people thought that he waited because he was afrald to trust himself to the grappling-ladder. He was afraid, exceedingly afraid; though that was not why he waited; and he was still chuckling over the assault of the axes. His srtuction had not much the ad- vantage of that of the chief; his red shirt might have been set with orange Jewels, so studded it was with the fly- ing sparks; and, a large brand drop- ping upon his helmet, he threw up his hand to dislodge it and lost the helmet. The great light fell upon his fair hair and smiling face, and it was then that Miss Betty recognized the Incroyable ©f her garden. CHAPTER VL THEE EVER UNPRACTICAL FEMI- NINE. It was an investigating negro child of tender years, who, possessed of a petty sense of cause and effect, brought an illuminative simplicity to bear upon the problem of the force pump; and a mul- titudinous agitation greeted his discow- ery that the engineers had forgotten te connect their pipes with the river, This naive omigsion was fatal to the second ehouse; the wall burst into flame below Cralley Gray, who clung to the top of the ladder, choking, stifled and dizzily fighting the sparks that covered him, yet still clutching the nozzle of the hose line they had passed to him. When the stream at last leaped forth, making the nozzle fight in his grasp, he sent it straight up in the air and let the cataract fall back upon himself and upon the two men beneath him on the ladder. There came a moment of blessed re- lNef; and he looked out over the broad rosy b f faces in the street, where no one wondered more than he how the water was to reach the roof. Suddenly he started, wiped his eyes with his wet sleeve, and peered intently down from under the shading arm. His roving glance crossed the smoke and flame to rest upon =a tall, white figure that stood, full-length above the heads of the people, upon a pedestal wrought with the grotesque images of boys; a el figure, still as noon, enrapt, like the statue of some young goddess for whom wege made these sacrificial pyres. Mr. Gray recognized his opportunity A blackened and unrecognizable face d down from the eaves, and the e belonging to it said angrily: ‘Why didn’t they send up that line before they put the water through 1t?" ever mind, Tom,” answered Crai- cheerfully, “I'll bring it up.” I'll come down for it. 1t’ be every kind of a fool!"” fou want a monopoly, do you?” And Crailey, calling to Tappingham Marsh, next below him, to come higher, left the writhing nozzle in the latter’s pos- session, swung himself out upon the grappling-ladder, imitating the chief's gymnastics, and immediately, one hand grasping the second rung, one knee crooked over the lowest. leaned head down and took the nozzle from Marsh It was a heavy weight, and though Marsh supported the line beneath it, the great stream hurtling forth made it a difficult thing to manage, for it wig- gled, recoiled and struggled as if it had been alive. Crailey made three at- tempts to draw himself up; but the strain was too much for his grip, and on the third attempt his fingers melted frdm the rung, and he swung down fearfully, hanging by his knee, but still clinging to the nozzle “Give it up, Chailey; it isn't worth it,” Vanrevel called from overhead, not dar- ing the welght of both on the light grappling-ladder. But though Crailey cared no more for the saving of Robert Carewe's prop- erty than for a butterfly’s wing in China, he could not give up now, any more than &s a lad he could have for- borpe to turn somersaults when the prettiest little girl looked out of the schooihouse window. He passed the nozzle to Topoingham, caught the second rung with his left hand, and, once more hanging head downward, seized the mnoz- zle; then, with his knee hooked tight, as the gushing water described a huge semi-circle upon the smoke and hot va- por, he made a mad lurch through the ain, while women shrieked; but he landed upright, balf-sitting on the low- est rung. He climbed the grappling- ladder swiftly, in spite of the weight and contortions of the unmanageable beast he carried with him; Tom leaned far dcwn and took it from him; and Crailey, passing the eaves, -lI, ex- hausted, upon the roof. Just as he reached this temporary security, a lady was borne, fainting, out of the acclaim- ing crowd. Fanchon was there, Word had been passed to the gentle- men of the “Engine Company” to shut off the water in order to allow the line to be carried up the ladder, and they received the command at the moment Tom lifted the nozzle, so that the stream dried up in his hands. This was the last straw, and the blackened, singed and scarred chief, setting the trumpet to his lips, gave himself en- tirely to wrath. It struck Crailey, even as he lay, coughing and weeping with smoke, that there was something splendid and large in the other’s rage. Vanrevel was ordi- narily so steady and cool that this was worth -eeing, this berserker gesture; worth hearing, this wonderful profan- ity, like Washington’s one fit of curs- ing; and Crailey, knowing Tom, knew, too, that it had not come upon him be- cause Carewe had a daughter into whose eyes Tom had looked: nor did he rage because he believed that Crailey’s life and his were in the greater hazard for the lack of every drop of water that should have {sued from the empty noz- zle. Their lungs were burdened with smoke, while the Intolerable smarting of throat, eyes and nostrils was like the incision of a thousand needles in the membranes; their clothes were Iy- minous with glowing circles where the sparks were eating; the blaze widened on the wall beneath them, and Marsh was shouting hoarsely that he could no longer hold his position on the ladder; yet Crailey knew that none of this was in Tom’s mind as he stood, scorched, blistered and haggard, on the edge of the roof, shaking his fist at the worid. It was because his chance of saving the property of a man he despised was be- ing endangered. Crailey stretched forth a hand and touched his friend’s knee. “Your side of the conversation is a trifle loud. Tom,” he said. “Miss Carewe Is down there, across the street, on a pile of boxes.” Tom stopped in the middle of a word for which he may have received but half a black stroke from the recording angel. He wheeled toward the street, and, shielding his Inflamed eyes with his hand, gazed downward in a stricken silence. From that moment Mr. Van- revel’s instructions to his followers were of a decérum at which rot the meek- est Sunday-school scholar dare have caviled. The three men now'on the long lad- der, Marsh, Eugene Madrillon and Will Cummings, found their position unten- able; for the flames, reaching all along the wall, were licking at the ladder itself, between Marsh and Eugene. “I can’t stand this any longer,” gasped Tappingham, “but I'can't leave those two up there, either.” “Not alone,” shouted Cummings from beneath Madrillon. ‘“Let’'s go up.” Thus it happened that when the water came again, and Vanrevel let it fall in a grateful cascade upon Cralley and himself, three manly voices were heard singing, as three men totled through the billows of rosy gray, below the beleaguered pair: “‘Oh the noble Duke of York, ' He had ten thousand men; He marched them up the side of & house, And marched them down again!” A head appeared above the eaves, and Marsh, then Eugene, then Cummings, came crawling over the cornice in turn, to join their comrades. They were a gallant band, those young gentlemen of Rouen, and they came with the ironical song on.their lips, and, looking at one another, ragged and scarified, burst into hoarse but indomitable laughter. Two others rgade an attempt to fol- low, and would not be restrained. It was noticed that parts of the lower lad- der had been charring; and the ladder- men were preparing to remove it to a less dangerous point, when old General Trumble and young Jefferson Bareaud made a rush to mount it. and were well upen their upward way before the lad- der, weakened at the middle, sagged, splintered and broke, Trumble and Ba- reaud failing with it. And there was the grappling-ladder, dangling forty feet above the ground: and there were the five upon the roof. The department had no other ladder of more than half the length of the shattered one. Not only the depart- ment, but every soul in Rouen, knew that; and there arose the thick, low sigh of a multitude, a sound frightful to hear. It became a groan, then swelled into a deep cry of alarm and lamentation. And now, almost simultaneously, the weast wall of the building, and the south wall, and all the southwestern portions of the roof, covered themselves with voluminous manties of flame, which in- creased 460 hugely and with such sav- age rapidity that the one stream on the roof was seen to be but a ridiculous and useless opposition. Bverybody began to shout advice to his neighbor; and nobody listened even to himself. ' The firemen were in as great a turmoil as was the crowd, while women covered their aeyes. Young Frank Chenoweth ‘was sobbing curges upon the bruised and shaking Trumble and Jefferson Bareaud, who could only stand remorseful, impotently groaning, anpd made no answer. The walls of the southernmost ware- house followed the roof, crashing in- ward one after the other, a sacrificial pyre with its purpose consummated; and in the seeth and flare of its passing, Tom Vanrevel again shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked down across the upturned faces. The pedestal with the grotesque carvings was still there; but the crowning figure had disap- peared—the young goddess was gone. For she, of all that throng, had an idea in her head, and, after screaming it to every man within reach, only to discover the impossibility df making herself understood in that Babel, she was struggling to make her way toward the second warehouse, through the swaying jam of people. It was a diffi- cult task, as the farther in ghe man- aged to go, the denser became the press and the more tightly she found the peo- ple wedged, until she received involun- tary aid from the firemen. In turning their second stream to play effeétually upon the lower strata of flame, they accidentally deflected it toward the crowd, who separated wildly, leaving a big gap, of which Miss Betty took in- stant advantage. She darted across, and the next moment, unnoticed, had ! entered thé building through the door which Crailey Gray had opened. The five young men on the roof were well aware that there was littlé to do but wait, and soon they would = see which was to win, they or the fire; so they shifted their line of hose to the eastern front of the building—out of harm’s way, for a little time, at least— and held the nozale steady, watching its work. And in truth it was not long before they understood which would conquer. The southern and western pertions of the building had flung out great flames that fluttered and flared on the breeze like Titanic flags; and stéadily, slowly, at first, then faster ag the seconds flew, the five were driven backward, up the low slope of the roof toward the gable-ridge. Tom Van- revel held the first joint of the nozzle, and he retreated with .a sulky face, lifting his foot grudgingly at each step. Théy were all silent now, and no one spoke until Will Cummings faltered: ‘Surely they'll get a rope up to us some way?” Will knew as well as the others that there was no way; but his speech struck the sullen heart of the chiet with remorse. He turned. “T hope you'll all forgive me for gettink you up here.” A sound, half sob, half giggle, came from the parched lips of Bugene Mad- rillon, he patted Tom on the shoul- der without speaking, and Crailey nodded quietly, then left the group and Wwent to the eastern edge of the roof and looked out upon the erowd. Cum- mings dropped the line and sat down, burying his hot face in his arms, for they all saw that Vanrevel thought “it Was no use,” but a question of a few minutes, and they would retreat across ERPHTR \ R B@IA the gable and either jump or go down with the roof. Since the world began, idle and dustrious philosophers have speculated much upon the thoughts of men to die; yet it cannot be too ing to believe that such theughts vary as the men, their characters and condi- tions of life vary. Nevertheless, pursu- ant with the traditions of minstrelsy and romance, it is comceivable that young, unmarriéd men, called upon to inre desperate situations, might. at the erucial moment, rush to a common ex- perience of summoning the vision, each of his heart's desire, and to meet, each his doom, with her name upon his lips. An extraordinary thing occurred in the present instance, for, by means of some fragmentary remarks let fall at the time, and afterward recalled—such as Tappingham Marsh's gasping: “At least it will,be on hér father's roof!™ and from other things later overheard, an Inevitable -deduction has Dbeen reached that four of the five gentiemen in the perilous case herein described were occupled with the vision of the same person, te wit: Miss Elisabsth Carewe, “the last—the pretilest—ts come to town!™ Cralley Gray, alone, spoke not st all; but why did he strain his eves toward that émpty pedestal with the grotesque carvings? Did he seek Fanchon there, or was Miss Carewe the last sweet &ap- parition in the fancles of all five of the unhappy young men? The coincidence of the actual appear- ance of the lady among them, therefors, seemed the more miraculous, whesn, wan and hopeless, staggering desper- ately backward to the gable-ridge, they heard a clear contralto voice behind them: “Hadn't you better all come down now?’ it sald. “The stairway will be on fire before lonz.” Only one thing could have been more shockingly unexpected to the five than that there should be a sixth persoa on the roof, and this was that the sixth person should be Miss Betty Carewe. They turned, aghast. agape, chop- fallen with astonishment, stunned and incredulous. She stood just behind the gable-ridge, smiling amiably, a most incongruous litle pink fan In her hand, the smeke- wreaths partly obscuring her and curl- ing between the five and her white dress, like mists floating across the new moon Was it but a kindly phantasm of the in- nuous brain? Was it the incarnation of the last vision of the lost volunteers? Was it a Valkyrie assuming that lovely likeness to perch upen th e, wait- ing to bear their- heroic souls to Val- halla, or—was it Miss Betty Carewe? To the chief she spoke Il of them agreed to that afterward—but it was Cralley who answered, while Tom could only stare, and stand wagging his head at the lovely phantom, like a Mandarin on a shelf. “My mother in heaven!" gasped Cral, ley. “‘How did you come up here?” “There is a trap in the roof on the other side of the ridge,” she said, and she began to,fan herself with the pink fan. “A stairway runs all the way down—old Nelson showed me through these buildings yesterday—and that side ism't on fire yet. I'm so sorry I didn't think of it until a moment ago, because you could have brought the water up that way. But don't you think you'd better come down now ?” CHAPTER THE COMEDIA Not savage Hun, nor “barbarous Vandyke,” nor demon Apache. could wish to dwell upon the state of mind of the chiéf of the Rouen Volunteer Fire Department; therefore, let the curtain of mercy descend. Without a word, he turned and dragged the nozzle to the eastern eaves, whence, after a warning gesture to those below. he dropped it to the ground. And, out of compassion, it should be little more than hinted that the gesture of warning wag very slight. When the réscued band reached the foot of the last flight of stairs, they be- held the open doorway as a frame for a great press of intent amd contorted faces, every éye still strained to watch the roof; none of the harrowed specta- tors comprehending the appearance of the girl's figure there, nor able to see whither she had led the five younsg men, until Tappingham Marsh ratsed a shout as he leaped out of the door and daneed upon the solid earth again Then, indeed, there was a mighty up- roar; cheer after cheer ascended to the red vault of heaven: women wept, .aen whooped, and the people rushed for the VIL heroes with wide-open. welcoming arms. Jefferson Bareaud and Frank Chenoweth and General Trumble dashed at Tom Vanrevel with incoher- ent cries of thanksgzivinz. shaking his hands and beating him hysterically up- on the back. He greeted them with bit- ter laughter. “Help met the water into the next warehouse; this one Is beyond control, but we can save the other two. Take the lines in—through the door!"” He brushed the rejoicing friends off ab- ruptly, and went on In a queer hollow volce: “There are stairs—and I'm so sorry J didn't think of it until a moment ago, becanse vou could have brought the water up that way!™ A remarkable case of desertion had occutred the previous instant under his éyes. As the party emerged from the warehouse into the streat, Tom heard Crailey say hurriedly to Miss Carewe: “Leét me get you away—come quickly!™ saw him suddenly seize her hand, and, eluding the onrushing créwd; run with her round the corner of the building. And. somehow, through what inspira- tion, or through what knowledge of his partner's “temperament,” heaven knows, the prophetic soul of the chief was unhapplly assured that Crailey would offer himself as escort to her home, and find acceptancs. But why not? Was it Cralley who had publicly called his fellowman fool, idiot, imbe-