CHAPTER V.
SAVED FROM THE BURNING HOUSE.
By this time the flames, which had been confined to half a dozenwindows, were breaking out through the roof of the house. Ben Bowmanand I followed Hop Tossford to the roof of the veranda, whichsurrounded the building, though, as we had waited to hear more of thesituation, we were considerably behind him. We all attempted the ascentby different posts. That which Ben took slipped out, and tumbled over;and the fire was so hot where I was that I had some difficulty ingetting a foothold on the roof.
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I had hardly accomplished my purpose when I heard a scream. The nextinstant I saw Hop leap from the window near the corner with a lady inhis arms. She was still screaming; but it appeared that she had beenalarmed only at finding herself in the arms of a stranger. She had notbeen aroused from her sleep till Hop lifted her from the bed.
The deck-hand set her on her feet as soon as he reached the roof of theveranda. She looked about her, and she could not help seeing andhearing the devouring flames. She comprehended the situation, andceased to scream. By this time a ladder was raised to the roof of theveranda, and as soon as Hop saw the top of it, he assisted the lady todescend, which she accomplished in safety. I saw her in the arms of herfather, and both of them were weeping.
As soon as I saw that the young lady was safe, I led the way into therooms on the side of the house which was not yet on fire, though theflames were now breaking into them, and proceeded to throw out thebaggage and other articles we found. Hop took the chamber from which hehad just saved the occupant, and removed a trunk and all the drawers ofa bureau. These articles were carried down the ladder by the guests andothers. We worked until we were driven from the veranda by the flames.
When I reached the ground, I found the lady who had been saved out onthe pier with her father, with their trunks which had been removedthere by the latter. She had transferred from the drawers of the bureaubrought out by Hop, all her clothing. She had quite recovered from herfright. She was not more than sixteen, and with the exception of EdithShepard, I never saw a prettier girl.
"We are under very great obligations to you, gentlemen," said thefather of the fair young lady. "I am sure my daughter would haveperished without the assistance of one of your number."
"This is the young man that brought your daughter out of the house," Ireplied, pointing to Hop.
"I thank you with all my heart and soul for what you have done," saidthe stranger, taking Hop's hand. "It seems that my daughter was asleepwhen you entered her chamber, and she would surely have been burned todeath without your bold effort."
"And I thank you with all my heart and soul!" exclaimed the young lady,blushing as she took the hand of her gallant deliverer. "I was fastasleep when you lifted me from the bed, and I only screamed because Ithought some man was carrying me off. At first, I thought it was adream."
"I was very clumsy about it; and I beg your pardon for frightening youso. I might have spoken before I took you from the bed. But I have hadno experience in such business," pleaded Hop. "I shall know better howto do it next time."
"You did it exceedingly well," said the lady, with emphasis.
"It matters little how it was done, so it was done," said the father.
"That is just what I think, papa. I can't express anything at all thatI feel towards this gentleman for the great service he has done me. Iwish I could say just what is in my heart!" exclaimed the fair younglady.
"I am very glad you can not," added Hop, who seemed to be embarrassedby the gratitude of the young lady and her father.
"We shall never forget the service of this young gentleman. Everybodyelse was paralyzed, and unable to do anything," continued the stranger."I had been to walk; and on my return I saw the smoke long before Ireached the house. I did not think of my daughter being in her room atfirst, but it occurred to me that she has been in the habit of taking anap after dinner lately. As I did not see her among the other people ofthe house, I was paralyzed by the thought that she might be asleep."
"I owe my life to your coming; and I never shall forget this service,any more than my father," added the young lady, as she bestowed agrateful look upon Hop.
"We shall see more of you, gentlemen; and I hope I shall be able toprove to you that I properly value the service you have rendered. But,Margie, we are turned out of house and home by the fire."
"But we have saved all our luggage, thanks to these gentlemen! We arenot so badly off as some of the people in the house, who must have losteverything."
"There are some others here who will have occasion to be thankful foryour arrival; for I don't think anything would have been saved if youhad not taken the lead. But, Margie, we haven't even a carriage toconvey us to a hotel."
"I think I can manage that for you, sir," I interposed. "We can takeyou and your trunks into our boat, and convey you to the other side ofthe town."
"Thanks; you are very kind. But we are not willing to take up any moreof your time," protested the stranger. "Besides, I don't know where togo, unless we take the next train for Jacksonville; for yesterday, andwhen we arrived a week ago, the hotels and boarding-houses were allfull to overflowing. I only got in where I was by the landlord and hisdaughter giving us their rooms, while they went to a cottage of afriend. Perhaps we had better leave the place at once, for I am sure wecan't find lodgings. I looked the place all over for accommodations."
"But we are too late to leave the place to-night, papa," replied MissMargie, and both she and her father seemed to be very anxious about thesituation.
"We shall find some kind of accommodations at the hotels, though it benothing better than the servants' rooms. They won't let us sleep in thestreets," added the father, more cheerfully.
"I think I can take care of you for a few days," I interposed; "at anyrate, until you find better quarters."
"Pardon me, sir; but you look like sailors; and you all went up theposts under the veranda as though you were sailors," added thegentleman.
"We are sailors, and we belong to a steam-yacht lying at anchor on theother side of the city," I replied. "We will take you and your daughteraround to her, with your baggage; and then you can make sucharrangements for the future as you desire."
"We thank you; you are very kind, and we accept your offer," said thegentleman. "The place is so crowded with visitors that it is verydifficult to get anything done for you; and we might have to stay herea long time before we could get a carriage to convey us and our luggageto another place. Besides, this fire will turn forty or fifty peopleout of their house, and there will be an increased demand for rooms."
"I can take care of you for a few days, at any rate," I replied. "Putthose trunks into the fore sheets of the boat, Ben."
The trunks and the other baggage were stowed in the forward part of theboat, and I assisted the fair stranger and her father to the cushionedseats in the stern sheets. When we were all in, the boat was prettywell loaded down. Ben shoved her well off into the stream, and I tookthe tiller-lines, seated between my two passengers.
"Up oars! Let fall! Give way!" I continued, giving the usual orders.Ben and Hop bent to their oars, while all of us took a parting view ofthe scene of the fire. The house was burned to the ground; and itseemed to me that nearly the whole population of the city was gatheredin the vicinity. A fire was not a common thing, and people went to seeit as a curiosity.
The month of March is one of the most trying in the whole year in theNorth, and vast numbers of people had come down to Florida to escapeits rigors. All the watering-places in the State were crowded withvisitors, and in St. Augustine, the most popular resort, there was nota vacant room to be had. While my new passengers were gazing at theremains of the fire and the crowd that surrounded them, I began tothink how I should dispose of my guests on board of the Sylvania. I wasnot quite willing to intrude upon Owen's party by putting them in theafter cabin; but I could easily make two rooms of the captain's largeapartment, while Was
hburn and I found quarters in the forward cabin.
The vigorous strokes of Ben and Hop soon brought us to the steamer. Thepassengers were still seated under the awning of the quarter-deck; andOwen had finished his cigar and joined Miss Edith, whose shadow he waswhen his cigar did not need attention. They all rose from their seatswhen they saw that I had company, for of course their curiosity wasexcited. We pulled around the stern, and came up to the port gangway,where the steps were rigged out.
Hop Tossford handed Miss Margie up the steps to the deck, while Iassisted the gentleman, whose name I did not yet know, though I hadread "P. T." on the ends of the trunks. I conducted the new passengersto the captain's room. I wanted Washburn, in order to have him removehis clothes and other articles into the forward cabin. When I lookedfor him, he was with the party on the quarter-deck. I went to him. In afew words I explained the situation to him. He was very willing tochange his quarters, and declared that he would sleep on the fore-yard,if necessary.
"I beg your pardon, Captain Alick, but what had you in the boat?" askedOwen, as Washburn went forward.
"I had a gentleman and his daughter, with their luggage, as we say inEngland," I replied.
"I beg your pardon again; but who are the gentleman and his daughter?"
"I haven't the least idea. They were in a house over the other side ofthe city, and some way up, which has just been burned to the ground.Very likely that young lady would have been burned to death if Hop hadnot brought her out of her room, where she was asleep. Every hotel andboarding-house in the place is full, and they had no place to go: so Ibrought them on board till they can find a hotel."
"Very good of you; but what were you just saying to Robsy?" demandedOwen.
"I told him to move his traps out of our room; and I shall do the samewith mine," I replied.
"You will do nothing of the sort," protested my cousin.
"What's the reason I won't?"
"Because the lady shall have my state room; and her father and I willjust take berths in the cabin."
Before I could say anything more, Owen rushed down into the cabin, andI followed him.