II
TRAPPED BY THE FLAMES

Jack seemed perfectly willing to accompany his chum, even if it did put a damper on their supper. Possibly he was like the vast majority of American youngsters in his youth, and could never resist the lure of a fire.

Accordingly they hurried down to the lower floor and dashed outside.

“Which way now, partner?” gasped Perk who was a bit short of wind after making that rush downstairs, not waiting to use the elevator. “I don’t see any glow in the sky to tell where the blaze c’n be.”

“Follow the crowd – that’s our only cue, Perk,” Jack hastened to say. “Listen to all that row – must be a fire engine heading to the spot; ought to set us right, I reckon.”

“Sure thing, Boss an’ here she comes a rushin’ along like an express train – no hosses though, these days which knocks a whole lot o’ the picture silly. On your way, John Jacob, I’m with you!”

They ran like deer, side by side. Others were streaming ahead, everybody displaying the utmost zeal to get to the fire before the conflagration was smothered by the streams of water turned on it.

Perk was in his glory – this sort of thing appealed to his nature as a pond would to a flock of thirsty ducks. Only for his lack of wind he might have indulged in a few cowboy whoops as he tore up one street and down another, touching elbows with his pard and eagerly straining his eyes in the hope of presently detecting a gust of smoke that would proclaim their arrival at the scene of operations.

“Thar she blows!” Perk suddenly gasped, “see that black smudge blowin’ in from a side street ol’ hoss? Jest one more burst an’ we’ll be Johnny on the spot! Wow! ain’t this glorious sport though?”

Jack made no answer, since there was nothing to say and he needed all his breath to keep going, not yet having caught his second wind.

Already a large crowd had gathered and was milling this way and that, trying in every way possible to catch a better view of the house that was the object of all these activities. Several engines had arrived and were making a great noise as they began to throw streams of water on the imperiled building as well as its near neighbors that would soon be in danger should the fire get a better start.

“Whee! smoke aplenty but so far I don’t lamp any fire,” Perk was saying in disjointed fragments as he and Jack stopped running and commenced to make their way through gaps in the moving crowds.

“A four-story frame building,” observed Jack as though that fact gripped his attention first of all, “and looks like it might be a tenement in the bargain.”

“I kinder guess you’re ’bout right there, partner.” Perk chimed in. “See the women and kids huddled up over yonder, some o’ ’em holdin’ bundles o’ stuff they’ve grabbed up when they hurried to get out! Ain’t that too bad, though – the poor things, to git burned out o’ their homes.”

It was a picture well calculated to wring the heart of a softy like Perk. Apparently all of the tenants had managed to get clear of the smoke-filled halls for the police officers standing guard at the exit were preventing any of the wildly excited women from rushing back into the building, doubtless with the intention of saving some beloved article which had a value in their eyes far in excess of its intrinsic one. Although they fought desperately to push past, the stern guardians of the law stood between and held them back, as if acting under the belief that such an act would be sheer suicide with all that dense smoke filling the halls and stairways.

“There, I saw a flash of flame jest then, Jack!” suddenly ejaculated Perk and if there was a little tinge of satisfaction in his voice it was hardly to be wondered at, the old boyish spirit rising up superior to his feeling of sympathy for the unfortunate families thus dispossessed of their humble homes.

Jack himself had noted the fact, although he made no remark, only shook his head sadly as if recognizing the fact that despite the fight put up by the fire laddies the frame building was very likely doomed.

They stood there and watched operations for some little time meanwhile other engines had come up, attached their hose to convenient hydrants and added fresh streams to those already drenching the buildings.

“Hot ziggetty dog! this here is gettin’ some monotonous, partner,” Perk finally remarked, “mebbe after all we’d show good sense by hikin’ back to the hotel and tacklin’ that grub.”

“Don’t be in such a big hurry, buddy,” objected the other who usually did prove to be some sticker, as Perk often observed, “since we’ve gone and made the run we ought to see a bit more of the fire. Supper will keep and besides, you’re likely to have a bigger vacuum to be filled. What say to taking a turn around and getting a view from another quarter?”

“That ain’t a bad idea boy, let’s get a move on,” agreed Perk who always liked a change of base when it promised further novelty.

“Come this way then,” Jack told him, starting to the left, “the crowd thins out off yonder, and we’ll be able to push through much easier. They still keep on coming though; men, women and lots of children who’d be better off at home I reckon still, what would you have? Chances are the average kid is just as wild to run with the fire engine as when we went into action!”

“Seems like it,” chuckled Perk, grinning amiably at a bunch of half-grown lads who had just come up and were staring goggle-eyed at the red streaks of leaping fire that appeared frequently amidst all the dense smoke.

Jack had been right in choosing to take the left turn, for they presently had everything to themselves. Evidently the other side of the building presented the most picturesque part of the conflagration, for hardly a straggler was met as they pursued their way.

“Here’s the rear of the tenement,” Jack remarked in a loud voice for the assembled steamers were kicking up so much noise that it was not easy to make himself heard. “See, they’re trying to wet down the building that backs up so close to the one that’s afire. It’s a four-story one at that and luckily built of brick, which may save it from catching fire.”

There seemed to be a rear entrance for a cop was standing guard there, apparently to keep any frantic tenant from rushing inside in the mad hope of rescuing some cherished object that had been forgotten in the frantic dash from the building earlier in the evening.

Flames were now coming out of several windows in the upper part of the doomed structure. On seeing this Jack lost all hope of the house being saved through the heroic efforts of the striving firemen.

“It’s bound to go, Perk,” he remarked, “I’m sorry for those poor families that stand to lose everything they’ve got in the wide world. Such as they never have a red cent of fire insurance. Look at that burst of flame will you? Small chance anybody’d have if they were unfortunate enough to get trapped up there!”

“Ugh! don’t mention it, partner!” cried the shocked Perk, his gaze fixed on the red tongues that kept flickering out of the upper windows like angry demons. “Many a time I’ve dreamed I was in a fire-trap like this here, an’ had to slide down the water-pipe with greedy fingers like them flames up there settin’ my clothes afire, singein’ my hair and eyebrows an’ nigh chokin’ me in the bargain. I’ll dream o’ this for a month o’ Sundays but ain’t it a thrillin’ sight though?”

That was just like honest-hearted Perk – filled with pity for those who stood to lose all their scanty earthly possessions, yet fascinated and duly thrilled by the fire itself and the whole surrounding panorama.

A minute afterwards Perk burst out in most intense excitement, gripping his chum’s arm with a strained clutch as he cried:

“Je-ru-sa-lem crickets! now ain’t that a danged shame though?”

“What do you mean buddy?” demanded Jack, also thrilled.

“Up yonder at that third-story window where the smoke’s comin’ out in big whoops – I certain sure did see a poor woman reach out, wringin’ her hands like she was hopin’ they started to set the ladders up – then she fell back again in the smoke – oh! Jack, she’s goin’ to be smothered an’ burned to a crisp if nobody c’n get to her in time!”

III
BRIDGING THE GAP

“Which window, Perk?” cried the startled Jack, staring upward.

“That one – third from the further end – gee whiz! like I might be in a cutout – brain all in a mixup – what c’n we do, Boss – knock that cop over an’ skoot upstairs?”

“Not any of that stuff, buddy,” Jack told the impulsive one in his impressive fashion. “He represents the Law, and so do we. Besides, look at the smoke rolling out of that rear door, it would be the last of us if we started that fool racket.”

“But – somethin’s got to be done, Jack – we jest can’t stand here and let a poor woman be burned to death. Do somethin’ partner, ’cause I’m flyin’ blind in a messy fog and can’t see where I ought to head.”

His voice and manner were both imploring, and Jack could not but be impressed by the gravity of the occasion.

“Sure you saw some one are you, Perk?” he demanded.

“Jack, I got good eyesight, an’ – looky there, right now, she’s back at the same window an’ will you b’lieve me if she ain’t got a kid alongside her? Wouldn’t that jar you, ol’ hoss?”

Jack no longer entertained any doubt regarding the truth of what his comrade had seen for he too could dimly make out moving figures at the third window from the end of the burning tenement.

“They’re makin’ motions to us right now!” sang out the greatly distressed Perk in new agony of mind. “I swan if I don’t think they’re meanin’ to make the jump an’ it’d be a crack-up dead sure!”

Startled by his own works Perk began to make violent gestures, as though endeavoring to warn the frightened woman not to dream of jumping.

“Hold your hosses – we’ll get goin’ an’ have you out o’ that mess in a jiffy;” and then turning upon his companion Perk almost savagely demanded: “It’s up to us, Jack – now how’re we goin’ to do it?”

“There’s only one chance that I can see,” Jack told him, “which is by way of this other building here. We must rush up to the third floor and if luck backs us we can find some way of passing over to her room – see, it’s only a matter of five or six feet at most. Come on, buddy!”

“Whoop! here we go then!” thundered Perk, making one more sweep of his arms as if to reassure the trapped inmate of the tenement and then rushing in the wake of the fast moving Jack.

Several people were emerging from a rear door of the brick building, and lugging all manner of household things in a mad endeavor to save cherished possessions. Evidently they had been seized by an overpowering fear that the fire might leap to their establishment and acting under this impression were hardly conscious of what they were doing.

Indeed, it began to look as though they might so block the narrow passage with the stuff they sought to salvage that no one could either get up or down. Jack was finding it difficult to push past and had almost to climb over a bulky bundle of bedding that had become lodged in the passage.

Perk, more impetuous, bowled over a stout man who had come down the stairs dragging a trunk, that banged and skittered in a dangerous fashion.

By great good luck and the exercise of some muscle, they both managed to brush past the blockade and the stairs seemed free above them. The first landing was reached and the second almost immediately afterwards; then came the final climb and the two pals, almost breathless, reached the third floor.

There was enough illumination for them to see what lay about them for the fire seemed to be breaking out of all the upper windows by this time and despite the thick smoke, shone through into the interior of the brick tenement.

Smoke had found entrance too, and made their eyes smart but that was a small matter and could be tolerated with such a vital stake in view.

Perk saw his companion take a swift look around as though to get his bearings, after which he turned to the left and ran along the hall. By this time Perk, a bit bewildered and confused, was willing to follow wherever Jack saw fit to lead, so in blind confidence he put after the other.

A door stood open as if inviting the would-be rescuers to enter a room which Jack lost no time in doing, with Perk at his heels, both of them groping about amidst whirls of pungent smoke.

One of the two windows was open, which would account for the presence of that dense blanket and like a shot Jack jumped over to thrust out his head so as to ascertain whether his guess had been worth while.

He saw the greedy banks of flame shooting out, across and up, and felt it almost scorching his cheeks but just the same it was a satisfaction to discover he was exactly opposite the third window from the end of the burning building.

“This the right place?” Perk was booming in his ear for what with the roaring of the fire, the pumping of the steamers down below and the shouts of deeply interested crowds in every quarter, the clamor was indeed something fierce and impressive, stirring the blood in their veins and causing their hearts to beat wildly.

“Yes – that window right across this gap, Perk, is the one we picked out!”

“Je-ru-sa-lem crickets! I kinder guess I c’n make the riffle!”

Jack managed to catch hold of the reckless fellow as he was in the act of clambering up on the sill of the window, undoubtedly with the full intention of making a desperate attempt to jump across, to the one from which the smoke was pouring forth.

“Don’t think of trying it – a crazy idea – one chance in ten you’d get across without falling!” he shouted in the ear of the struggling one.

“Gosh! let me make the try, partner – sure I c’n do such a little stunt okay – let off, won’t you, Jack?” pleaded Perk, but the other only tightened his grip.

“Even if you did manage to hang on and climb inside, what good would it do – how get the woman and child across the gap?” Jack roared, feeling that his comrade was losing all the sense he ever had.

Perk suddenly ceased struggling as though he had seen a great light.

“Wall, I guess you ditched me, ol’ hoss – that’s a fact they couldn’t make it after all. Then what’s to be done?” he went on to say, dejectedly.

“We’ve got to bridge it some way or other,” snapped the ever ready Jack. “This is a kitchen, seems like, partner – jump into it now, and see if you can’t run across something that would reach across to that other window – even an ironing-board might make it. I’ll take a look across the hall, in some other apartment, and may run across another.”

Perk, as if freshly inspired, set about his commission with alacrity and almost immediately made a plunge toward a corner of the small room to snatch up a six-foot board covered with several thicknesses of cloth that was scorched in numerous places as with a hot iron.

Jack had meanwhile darted into the hall, discovered another open door nearly opposite and without knocking rushed through to find a second deserted kitchen and not quite so much smoke to interfere with his vision.

Fortune again favored him, for almost the first object he saw was a similar ironing-board, evidently a mate to that Perk had run across. Snatching it up he turned and hurried back to the opposite room, where he found Perk just laying his frail plank across the area to discover that it bridged the gap, although with but a mite to spare.

Jack arrived just in time for the rash one was in the very act of crawling out on his unsteady bridge which, if moved a few inches, would have precipitated him down thirty feet and more to land upon a cement pavement and meet with grievous injuries, even if he survived the drop.

“Hold on!” Jack shouted as he again caught hold of his chum. “Here’s a second board that will widen the bridge. Let’s swing it across and then one hold them together while the other crawls over!”

“Yeah, let’s,” Perk chimed in, seeing the advantage a double width would afford, and this was quickly accomplished.

“I’ll go over,” Jack was saying.

“Not much you won’t – that’s my job I’m tellin’ you partner!” the other insisted, pushing Jack aside.

“But – I’m younger than you, Perk, spryer too – it ought to be my game, don’t you see?”

“The devil you are!” whooped the one who would not be denied. “I’m stronger an’ tougher’n you ever be, boy – an’ I saw ’em first, too! Let me have my way, please, partner, won’t you?”

Jack, realizing that it would be the utmost folly for them to keep on disputing in this fashion while the very seconds were so valuable when human lives were in jeopardy, gave up the contention.

“All right, Perk, you win, but I’ll go next time, remember. Make up your mind I’ll keep the boards close together – be as easy as you can when crossing. Now, go to it!”

Already Perk was out on the strange bridge on hands and knees, crawling toward the opposite window while Jack, gripping the ends of the two boards with all his strength, held them steady. It was a tense moment and one not soon to be forgotten.

By this time it seemed that two of the firemen down below holding the nozzle of a hose and sending a stream of water up to the roof of the doomed tenement building had discovered what was being done, for they raised their hoarse voices to applaud the daring bridge creeper. It was all in the line of their own daily work and they surely could appreciate the venturesome act at its full value.

Jack had a dread lest they change the direction of the stream, hoping thus to sprinkle the climber and render him immune to that heat which they must know would be almost unbearable so close to those darting billows of fire but fortunately they did nothing of the sort, doubtless realizing how frail that mockery of a bridge must be and how the shock of a volume of water might cause it to break away.

A few seconds of dreadful suspense and then Perk vanished from view, having passed into the room through the third window from the end of the tenement. Jack almost ceased breathing, so thrilled was he lest that might be the last glimpse he would ever have of his pal.