CHAPTER XXI--FIGHTING THE FLAMES
Never had "The Automobile Girls" displayed greater courage than at thiscritical moment. It was the time for quick action and quicker thought.The men who were digging the trench could not leave their work. They sawthat, unless the trench were dug wider, it would be necessary to fightthe flames back, and they were digging like mad to keep the fire fromleaping the ditch again.
It was Mollie who saved them from a terrible explosion by rememberingthe house where the gasoline was stored just behind the garage, and Johnand Adam rolled the tank to a distance temporarily safe at least.
Bab had found a ladder somewhere. Placing it against the garage she hadscaled it like a monkey, carrying under one arm a wet blanket the weightof which she was too excited to notice. She never quite knew how sheshinned up the roof, but presently she found herself astride thepinnacle. Zerlina had followed close behind, with more blankets andtogether the two girls spread them over the smoking shingles. When theroof was covered, they let themselves down and began dashing water onthe smouldering walls. The bucket brigade was working well under thedirection of Ruth, and the garage was saved.
Then a line of clipped bushes running from the garden to the forest,suddenly burst into flames. A cry went up from the workers at thisterrifying spectacle. To the girls, it seemed like a gigantic boaconstrictor racing toward them, and, for a moment, they turned cold withfear.
"All hands must help here!" cried Bab, taking command, as she naturallydid in times of danger. "Zerlina, tell the men to come from the trenchwith their shovels. Bring pails of water, all of you," she called to theGypsies, "and the rest of the wet blankets."
There was a rush and a scramble. They tried to beat down the angrylittle flames, dashed water on to them, choked them with wet blankets,trampled on them, and finally fell back, stifled and blinded with smokeand ashes, only to find the gasoline house a burning mass. It had goneup like a tinder box in an instant, and was reduced to ruins.
"If we have any more gusts of wind like that last, Bab, we are lost!"cried Ruth, sobbing a little under her breath. "But, of course, if theworst happens, we can always take the automobiles. They can run fasterthan the flames."
Back of the garage they could see another line of flames advancing likea regiment of cavalry.
"Great heavens!" cried Grace. "What shall we do now?"
"Don't despair, yet," answered Bab. "Those dividing hedges are very dry,but the flames don't spread from them so quickly; and, besides, Ibelieve the trench will stop them."
"O Bab," exclaimed Ruth, "do you think there will ever be an end tothis? We are too tired to dig trenches, and the water is gettingalarmingly low."
"But there are two more cisterns," replied the undaunted Bab.
Just then the wind, which, up to this time, except for a few briefgusts, had been merely a breeze, gathered new strength. Sparks began tofly from the burning underbrush in the wood. It had been a ground fire,owing to the long drought, and the trees still waved their greenbranches over the ruins at their feet.
Ruth seized Bab's hand convulsively.
"Young ladies!" called a voice behind them. Turning, they confronted thehermit. "I am a very old man, but, if you will permit me, I will make asuggestion. Save what water is left for the roof, which should bedeluged as soon as possible. The trench will stop the fire, but itcannot keep back the sparks and I see a wind has come up that is mostdangerous."
"Oh, thank you," cried the two girls, seeing the wisdom of hissuggestion immediately.
Miss Sallie, a tragic spectacle, came from around the house; her whitehair tumbling down her back, her face gray with ashes and her lavendergarments torn and wet.
"Girls," she murmured, her voice trembling, from fatigue and excitement,"we have done all we could do for the major. I think we had better giveit up and go while we can get away."
"Let us have one more chance. Aunt Sallie, dearest," begged Ruth, "andif that fails there will still be time to get away in the motor car."
"What are you going to do now, child?" asked the poor womandistractedly.
"You go and sit down in one of the long chairs on the piazza and rest,"replied her niece, patting her hand tenderly, "and leave everything tous."
The girls could hear the throbbing of the pumping engine somewherebelow, as they dashed up the steps. John had connected all the cisternsand the machinery was working in good order. The candles and lanternsthey carried hardly made an impression in the blackness of the greatempty garret, but an exclamation from John called attention to the factthat the sliding partition was down.
"I never knew it to happen before," he said, "except once when I was toosmall to understand."
"How are we going to manage?" asked Grace, looking overhead.
"Through the scuttle to the roof," replied Barbara, pointing to a ladderleading to a trapdoor.
John climbed up first, opening the scuttle, and everybody lent a hand inlifting out the hose he had brought along. Barbara and Zerlina followedto the roof, which was steep and much broken by pinnacles and turrets;yet in contrast with the attic it was quite light outside, and the girlscould see perfectly where to step without slipping.
Only two people were needed, it was decided. Bab would not hear ofRuth's coming, on account of the latter's horror of high places. It wascertain that Mollie and Grace were not agile enough for the experiment,and Bab and Zerlina had already proved what they could do when theyscaled the garage roof.
The three girls left behind climbed onto a balcony just outside one ofthe attic windows and watched, with tremulous interest, what washappening on the roof.
Thus Zerlina and Barbara, with old John, were left alone on top of TenEyck Hall. They had a wonderful view of the smoking forest, the tops ofwhose trees were waving in the steadily rising wind. The trench had,indeed, stopped the course of the flames which had run along the meadowhedges, and there were no more lines of fire to be seen; but there was abright glow toward the back and a sound of crackling wood. Then came aburst of flames and the onlooker saw that the stable was burning. Aspark lit on Bab's wrist; another touched her on the cheek, andpresently a gust of wind brought dozens of them twinkling like shootingstars at night. They fell on the shingled roof, smouldered for a momentand went out. Others followed. It could be only a matter of a littlewhile, thought Bab, before the hall would be in flames if they were notprompt with the water.
"It's all right, Miss," called John's voice from behind the tank on thepart of the roof over the attic. There was a gurgling noise and a swiftjet of water burst from the nozzle of the hose.
With Zerlina's assistance, Bab began watering the roof. But the tallestpeak was beyond reach of the hose. There the sparks were smoulderinginto life and Bab distinctly saw a a little puff of flame lick out andthen go back again like a cunning animal biding its time.
Bab ran over to the tank.
"John," she called, "get a ladder and a pail."
Together they unhooked the ladder attached to the tank and dragged itover to the high center peak of the roof. There was a pail, also, whichthey filled with water. While the old man held the ladder Bab climbedup, taking the pail from Zerlina. Several times the brave girl dashedwater over the smoking shingles until every spark was dead. Then,standing on one foot, on the top rung of the ladder, Bab braced herselfwith a lightning rod running up the side of the turret, and leaned overto see if all were well on its other section. Below her she could seethe girls on the balcony peering up at her with frightened eyes. Liftingherself entirely off the ladder, for an instant, Bab glanced around theturret. In slipping back, her foot missed the rung. The shock made herlose her grip on the lightning rod, and like a flash she slid down thesteepest part of the roof now slippery from its recent wetting. Therewas nothing to hold to, nothing to cling to, and she closed her eyesfrom the horror that was before her.
Like a Flash She Slid Down the Steepest Part of theRoof.]
It is said that a great many things pass through one's mind at suchbrief, tense m
oments as these, when death is almost certain.
The thought that came to Bab's mind, however, was her mother's prayer,"Heaven make me calm in the face of danger."
There was, of course, a shudder of horror, a wild, ineffectual effort tosave herself--a shock.
When she opened her eyes, three pairs of arms encircled her, and threesobbing faces hovered over her. She had landed upon the roof of thebalcony where the girls were waiting. Except for a bruised arm, she hadmet with no harm.
"Why, girlies," she said, smiling a little weakly, "were you sofrightened?" and then closed her eyes again.
Zerlina and John came tumbling down the ladder. The Gypsy girl was aswhite as a sheet and old John was openly sobbing.
"I'm all right," Bab assured them, standing up and shaking herself tobring her senses back. She bathed her throbbing wrists and temples, andall climbed down into the lower regions of the house. It was decided towater the side of the house, and after that nothing more could be done.The whole place was lit up with the burning stable, and sparks wereflying in every direction. The wind had risen to a gale and the skieswere overhung with a black canopy of clouds kindled by occasionalflashes of lightning. There was a low grumbling sound of thunder. Downthe avenue came the clatter of horses' hoofs. At the same time there wasa terrific clap, and the rain poured down in torrents.
"Here they are!" cried the girls as Major Ten Eyck and the boys leapedfrom their horses and dashed up the piazza steps. Jose was not withthem.