CHAPTER XXIV--FIRE!
A great red glare covered the whole southern sky as Ralph reached theouter air.
"Mother is right, I guess," he spoke quickly--"it is certainly in thedirection of the old factory."
The spur switch to the factory had been completed for some days. Ralphhad that afternoon operated the levers opening the Farrington extensionfor the first time.
The new lessee of the factory, he understood, was going to use oil forfuel under some of the boilers. Among the twenty-odd cars switched offon the spur that afternoon Ralph had noticed as many as ten tank cars.
As Ralph ran on, he was surprised to note the extent of the glare. Itspread from a point quite remote from the factory right up to thefactory location.
He heard shouts in the distance, and scattered figures were throngingthe landscape from all directions.
Ralph passed a short timber reach. A vivid panorama now spread outbefore him.
A thousand yards ahead was the ravine. This the factory switch spurtraversed.
Shooting up from the depths of the ravine for nearly a quarter of a milewere leaping, vivid tongues of flame.
Getting where he could command a view townwards obliquely across theravine, Ralph realized just what had happened.
Outlined against the black sky there showed the framework of severalfreight cars. They were simply threads of flame now.
In some way the stationary freights had caught fire. The blaze hadcommunicated to an oil tank. There had been an explosion, scatteringthe burning oil far and wide.
The cars had been blocked on an incline. Apparently the force of anexplosion, or the fire, had dislodged or destroyed the blocking plank.Some of the cars had broken free. Scudding down the ravine, they hadlodged cinders and flame in all directions.
Coming to a curve, they had jumped the track. About two hundred feetfrom the factory they had gone down into a gravel pit, piling on top ofeach other.
The dry grass and shrubbery were on fire on both sides of the ravine fora full quarter of a mile back towards the town. The house Mrs. Davishad lived in was ablaze from cellar to garret.
Suddenly there was an awful roar. It was fortunate that Ralph was nonearer to the center of the explosion than he was.
The tanks that had crashed down into the gravel pit had formed aseething caldron of fire, and had now exploded.
So powerful was the concussion that Ralph was thrown flat. Gettingerect again promptly, he saw a great flare of fire leap a hundred feetin the air.
This bore with it blazing planks, fragments of red-hot iron, anddazzling cinders.
They fell all over the landscape. They particularly enveloped the oldfactory. This, Ralph noticed, took fire instantly in a dozen differentplaces.
"Hello, Fairbanks!" cried a breathless passerby.
"Slavin?" said Ralph.
"Yes, keep on. There's hose and apparatus up at the factory. That'sall there is worth saving, now."
"It will never be saved," pronounced Ralph convincedly, but he joinedSlavin on a run forward.
They were compelled to make a wide detour here and there of the ravinewindings. Even great trees lining it had caught fire. The smoke wasdense, and the burning cinders rained down upon them like hail.
"Hold on," ordered Ralph suddenly, but Slavin, catching sight of men andladders in the vicinity of the factory, dashed on for the main center ofexcitement and activity.
Ralph had halted. He stood within about a hundred feet of the old housebetween Mrs. Davis' former home and the factory.
It was across this stretch, belonging to an old invalid widow, thatFarrington had forced his right of way. The roof of the house wasablaze, So was one side of the building. Ralph had been checked by awailing cry.
"Some one shut in there," he decided. "Even if it is only an animal, Imust find out, and try to rescue it."
Ralph ran through the open rear doorway. A hall extended the length ofthe house. The outside blaze shone brightly into a side room, althoughit was filled with smoke pouring through a sash half burned away.
An old woman in a wheel chair blocked the doorway of the front room.Apparently this was her only means of getting about. She had tried toescape, the chair, had got wedged in the doorway, and she was moaningand crying for help.
"Is that you, David?" she gasped wildly, as her smoke-blurred eyes madeout Ralph.
"No, but I am here to help you," answered Ralph in a cheery, encouragingvoice. "Don't worry, ma'am."
Ralph soon extricated the chair. As he ran it and its occupant out intothe open air, the front windows blew in from the intense heat, and theflames swept through the house.
Ralph ran the chair to a high point of safety.
"Don't go any further," panted the old woman. "My son David is duehome. He will be worried to death. I want to be where I can see andcall to him, when he comes."
"Very well," said Ralph, "you are safe here, at least for the present. Iwill run back and save what I can in the house."
"No, no," demurred the old woman quickly. "There is nothing worthsaving. The furniture is old and insured. So is the house. Oh, I amso thankful to you!" she cried fervently.
"That is all right," said Ralph. "I am sorry to see you homeless."
"How did the fire come?" questioned the woman. "From GasperFarrington's new railroad?"
"Yes," said Ralph, "some oil cars on the switch spur took fire, andexploded."
"Then he is responsible!" cried the woman eagerly. "And his factory isburning up, isn't it? It's a retribution on him, that's what it is,"she declared hoarsely. "He ran his tracks over our land withoutpermission. He spoiled our peaceful home. Won't I get damages fromhim, as well as my insurance money?"
"I think your chances are very good," answered Ralph.
The old woman looked somewhat comforted. She sat mumbling to herself.Ralph wished to hurry over to the factory. He offered to wheel her to ashelter nearer the town, but she insisted she must wait in sight of thehouse until her son arrived.
Ralph did not like to leave her alone. The grass might catch fire andthe flames spread, even to the place where they were now. He stoodsurveying the fire interestedly, when his companion uttered a suddenscream.
"Oh, my! oh, my!" she wailed, wringing her hands. "How could I forget!"
Ralph pressed closer to her side.
"Is something distressing you?" he asked quickly.
"Oh, yes! yes!" said the woman. "Is the house all on fire? No, theremay be time yet. Boy, will you--will you do something for me?"
"Surely, if I can."
"In the house--something I must save."
"What is it? In what part of the house?"
"Not mine. It is a sacred trust. It is something I promised faithfullyto look after. Oh, dear! dear! if it should be burned up!"
"Try and be calm, and tell me about it," advised Ralph.
"It is upstairs--in the rear garret room."
Ralph looked up rather hopelessly at the little window fully twenty feetfrom the ground.
"How do the stairs run?" he asked.
"Only from the front. You can't go that way, though," panted the woman."It's all ablaze. But there is a ladder."
"Where--quick."
"Behind that old grape trellis."
"How long is it?" asked Ralph.
"It reaches the roof. My son used it in shingling. Take a hatchet or aclub with you. The window is nailed down on the inside, very tightly.You will have to smash the window in. Is it too late?"
"Not at all," declared Ralph briskly.
"The roof is all on fire!"
"Never mind that, only be quick and tell me: what is it you want me toget?"
"There's only one thing in the room. An old trunk."
"An old trunk?" repeated Ralph rapidly.
"It's all tied up with rope. Smash it open, too. Inside is a tin case,a small flat tin case. That's what I want. Oh! you will get it, won'tyou?" pleaded the old
woman, in a fever of suspense and excitement.
"I shall certainly try," declared Ralph.
"Don't risk your precious life by any delay, dear, dear boy!" cried theold woman hysterically. "I believe I should die of worry if that boxwas burned up. I promised so sincerely to take care of it. What wouldMrs. Davis say if it was lost!"
"Who?" cried Ralph sharply, with a great start.
"Mrs. Davis."
"The woman who lived next door?"
"Yes, yes. She left it with me, about a month ago. She was afraid tokeep it with herself. I promised----"
But Ralph was listening no longer. A great conviction filled his mindthat at this critical moment, amid fire and peril, a crisis in his lifefaced him.