CHAPTER VI
THE FIRE
Hiram did not take note of much till he was three blocks from therestaurant. There was a dull pain somewhere within him, but when histhinking apparatus began shaking off its stunned condition he found itdifficult to analyze this pain.
The girl had done practically nothing. In fact, but for her laughter,her attitude toward the well-dressed man would have showed righteousdispleasure. The thought that this might be a common occurrence didnot enter his head. He was distressed now; he found, only with a keenfeeling of utter alienation, he was one lone backwoodsman against SanFrancisco, scorning him, ready to trample him under foot.
A sign over the window of a store cleared this mystery. Hiram stoppedand stared up at it. In a flash he knew what was the matter with him,and that he hated the stranger for his clothes--that he hated everybodybecause this man wore good clothes. He squeezed his pocketbook andread and reread the painted words in their painted circles:
"O'coat, $40, no more; Coat, $20, no more; Pants, $5, no more; Hat, $3,no more."
His mind was adding twenty, five, and three. The total wastwenty-eight. He could get along without an overcoat, though in SanFrancisco, even in summer, an overcoat is comfortable at night. Shouldhe or should he not? His rusty old clothes were torturing him.Twenty-eight dollars! And perhaps only four or five more for extras--atie, collars, suspenders, and--oh, yes! shoes. He had forgotten theshoes. His were brogans. He must have shoes, too. Perhaps five forshoes. He had barely sixty-seven dollars. Should he? Was it foolish,or----
Reflected in the show window he saw a drab automobile flash behind him.At the wheel he saw, erect, forceful, jaunty, and well-dressed, with ablack cigar gripped in his teeth, the man who had snatched at Lucy'shand. Clinching his pocketbook, Hiram entered the store.
A half hour later he came out, poorer by some thirty-eight dollars, butrich in the self-esteem which the bright, stiff garments gave him.
He left his bundle in his stall at the lodging house, criticizedhimself before the cracked mirror in the hall, and went down on thestreet. He bought three five-cent cigars and lighted one. He grippedit in his teeth and let it protrude from the left-hand corner of hismouth. Then he started for the restaurant.
Long before he reached it panic was upon him. He had absolutely nopretext on which to enter. It was then only ten-thirty, and he hadbreakfasted at nine. To enter boldly and begin a conversation withLucy--which he had all along boastfully promised himself he woulddo--he now knew to be the last thing on earth he would dare.
Besides, though the garments he wore were new and bright and stiff,those two brief glimpses of his rival's clothes now tardily showed himthat there was a difference. His coat, for instance, seemed a bitangular--there seemed to be corners he had not noticed in the store.It did not snuggle down to his neck and shoulders just right. Hiramthought that perhaps the linen collar was a trifle too large.
Thus criticizing, and walking slower and slower, he neared therestaurant. Now it was impossible to take another step without comingabreast of it. He stopped and looked in a jeweler's window next door.
He stood there fifteen minutes. Time and again he nerved himself up toentering the restaurant, only to feel cold sweat break out on hisforehead as he lifted his foot. He would return to the lodging house,change his clothes, and see her when he ate at noon. He would neverlet her see him in those now hated new clothes. He had squanderedthirty-eight dollars for her, and he had only twenty-nine left.
Down the street from the heart of the city came a sudden clangor.Vehicles were rushed close to the curbs. Up a side street a new jangleof bells broke out. Never had Hiram seen a city fire, but at once heknew that such was happening.
A hook-and-ladder company rattled past with clamor and gongs andclatter of hoofbeats. People poured from the doors of buildings towatch. Men rushed to the curb and looked after the firemen; the womenstood near the buildings, under the awnings, shading their eyes andstanding on tiptoes. Quickly the sidewalk filled. A chemical enginepassed, clouds of black smoke rolling in its wake. Across the street apillar of black smoke burst from a third-story window.
"It's across the street! Across the street!" shouted the crowd.
A hose cart rumbled up. The men on the curb grew frantic, yelling andpointing to the smoke. The hose cart was stopped.
A little later the chief's automobile came. Then the apparatus thathad passed down the street came back. Flames and smoke were burstingfrom three windows now. The street and the sidewalk were filled withthe crowd.
Hiram had not moved a muscle. People elbowed him on both sides, but hepaid no attention. The rapid operations of the fire fighters held himspell-bound.
"Oo-oo-oo! Look there!" suddenly came a shrill familiar voice at hisside.
A sputter of sparks had shot from the roof of the building, and a manhad emerged from a trap-door, it seemed, and darted from sight. Butthe fire and every new phase of it had lost all holding power overHiram Hooker. Pressed to his elbow, wedged in by the crowd, stood Lucy.
"Oh, I love a fire!" she was ecstatically informing some one on herother side--a waitress.
Hiram stood there sick with her proximity. She had not recognizedhim--she was engrossed with the clouds of black smoke, the intermittentred gleam of blaze, and the crackling streams of water. Her tongue waswagging rapidly, and she seemed not to care to whom she spoke orwhether that fortunate person were listening.
Suddenly, through the scurrying firemen in the street, a big redautomobile came slowly. It was filled with men and women. Its hornwas honking perpetually. Besides the fire apparatus, no other vehicleswere allowed in the street, yet no one seemed to interfere with thismachine.
"Oh, it's the Samax Company!" exclaimed Lucy, dancing up and down."They're going to take a fire picture. Look, Minnie! There's Mr.Kenoke--the director! I never thought of it--right here at my verydoor, too! If I only could see him, Minnie. What a chance for thefire scene in 'The Crowning Defeat!' Oh, why didn't I think of it,Minnie? Mr. Kenoke! Mr. Kenoke! Oh, dear, he wouldn't hear me in athousand years!"
She was waving over the heads of the crowd at some one in the redautomobile, it seemed. There seemed even less likelihood now of hertaking note of Hiram. He watched her furtively and wondered.
"Oh, I must see him!" she went on excitedly. "Say, mister"--shesuddenly turned a flushed face to Hiram--"won't you---- Why, hello!"she broke off. "I didn't know it was you. Oh, you will, I know!You're big--you can do it! Won't you try to get to that heavy-set manin the machine for me? Please--won't you?"
She was looking eagerly up at him. Hiram rose to the situation like aman. For her he felt he would have cheerfully entered a beehive shouldshe command him. Was not this the adventure girl of whom he haddreamed?
"What'll I do?"
"Oh, will you? Good! Listen: Tell him to have Mr. Blair carry MissWorthington out the door. And listen: Miss Worthington hasfainted--see? Mr. Blair faints then, and staggers and falls down withher. Then Mr. Speed rushes up and takes a letter from Mr. Blair'spocket and runs out of the picture. And listen: Mr. Blair and MissWorthington still lie there. Tell him there's no makeup. And tell himMiss Lucy Dalles wants him to do that, and that he won't regret it.Tell him I said it was a peach--see? But listen: Don't say anythingabout me being in a restaurant, though. Oh, can you? Will you?"
Hiram was stunned. Had the girl gone crazy?
"Go on, please, before the fire's out! I can't explain now--wait.I'll tell you later. He'll know, though. Go on, now--try!"
Without the faintest notion of what it was all about--with only thethrilling thought that he was serving her--Hiram's big figure beganpushing through the crowd, dazedly repeating her queer message and thenames.
He was tall, strong, and angular. Shoving this way and that, he foughthis way to the curb. Here he encountered a rope stretched lengthwiseof the street. The crowd was now confined to the sidewalk. Hiramcrawled under
the rope. A policeman shouted at him and started towardhim. Hiram ran, tripped over a slippery hose, caught himself, andplunged on through the knots of struggling, dripping firemen.
The automobile had stopped. The occupants were clambering to the wetpavement. One man was hurriedly setting up a peculiar-shaped cameradirectly opposite the entrance of the burning building. Another, aheavy-set man, was bobbing about, shouting orders to men and women, wholistened, then ran toward the door.
Everybody was crazy, it seemed, but this had nothing to do with Hiramin carrying out his mission. He ran up to this heavy-set man and cried:
"Are you Mr. Kenoke?"
"Sure! Get out the way! What d'ye want? Now, Miss Worthington, runfor the ladder. Hurry up, girlie! Come on, Blair! Quick! Quick!What d'ye want--you?"
Hiram gulped and searched his brains. "Miss Lucy Dalles says to tellyou to have Mr. Blair carry Miss Worthington out of the door. She'sfainted, she said, and then he faints and falls. They lay there, andanother fella--I forget that name--takes a letter from Mr. Blair'spocket and runs away. Mr. What's-his-name and Miss Worthington stilllie there. Mr.--er--let's see--there's no makeup. And it's a peach,and you won't regret it."
"Humph! All right; I get you. I'll take a chance. Lucy Dalles, yousay? Thanks. Get that, Collins? 'Bout ten feet, I guess. Afterthis. Now, out of the way, please. All ready, there! Let her go!Now, up with that ladder, deary! Get in there! Get in the pictureWorthington!"
Hiram stepped back. The man with the camera began turning a crank onone side, and a low whirring noise blended softly with the roar of therushing water. Hiram saw dripping men and women dancing about likemaniacs before the smoking door.
He did not wait for more. He had done his duty, and he hurried backfor his reward.
"Did you do it? Did you see him?"
Lucy Dalles, with parted lips, was straining toward him as he cleavedhis way back to her.
Hiram nodded.
"Oh, what did he say?"
"He said: 'All right. I'll risk it.' He said a lot more, but I guessit wasn't to me."
"Well, you're all right," she said, with a beaming smile. "D'ye hear,Minnie? Mr. Kenoke's going to take it!"
Minnie, a freckle-faced girl, was busily chewing gum and watching thespectacle. She indifferently replied, "Yea," and craned her neck awayto focus some new development in the fire fight.
Lucy at once ignored her.
"Say, that was great, all right! I'm much obliged, I'm sure. That'llmean something to me." She was looking straight at Hiram. Now shehesitated, then, a bit flustered, concluded, "That was all right."
Hiram grinned and bobbed his head.
She looked at him in confusion a little longer, then turned to Minnie.
"Goodness! I must get back in," she said hurriedly.
Still Minnie gave no heed, and Lucy faced Hiram once more.
"I said I'd tell you about it, didn't I? Well, I will--that is, if youcare?"
Hiram bobbed his head again.
She looked through the jeweler's window at a small brass clock.
"Gracious! Can that clock be right? It's after eleven! Say, listen:I'm going off watch at twelve. If you'll be here I'll tell you then."
"Yes, ma'am--I'll be here."
"All right. Good-by. Much obliged, I'm sure."
She squeezed back of Minnie, and scampered through the restaurant door.
Hiram stood watching the streams of water--that is, he looked that way.
The She Boss: A Western Story Page 6