The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-08-02

terances in the corrupted Spanish #
the Mexican tongue. The lowest Mei-
lean peon, who all his life goes hat
clothed, half fed and unsheltertd,
handles his cigar or cigarette with he
fine pomposity and careless gracep f
the proudest hidalgo. =
John Proctor awoke that night to fine
himself assaulted by foe mightier thar
his feeble imagination; had pictured. HI
tried to rise but found himself unable
to move, oppressed by terrible sense
Of sutfocation from dense volumes O
smoke which filed the air. through
which vast sheets of flame darted theil
| forked tongues toward him. Suddenl,
the wall of flame and smoke was parted
and the face of the tramp bent ovel
him. He was roughly shaken, pulled
off the bed, half dragged, half carried
through the little private office and int
the larger room beyond, where the fir
! had begun its work of devastation. Ther
voice and memory came back and h,
shouted: my notes! In my coat peck
et-under the pillow-let me go!'>
For answer he was violently propelled
| forward into the arms of some men
eagerly crowding through the flaming
| doorway. He struggled to free himsei
from their vice-like grasp. He Tough
with them, cursed them and finalls
broke down and cried like a cb-
Maxon's fierce tones recalled 1niasos
himself.
"Why, man, do you think we would
let you go into that fiery furnace tgain?
Seel There goes the roof now"
With a gentle, waving motion the
roof seemed to slowly vibrate to and
fro, then sank down with sudden
crash, and flying column o sparks
celebrated its downfall.
With half dazed senses JOIN Proctor
stared about him, and his g.ze wan
dered to the sky above, wherean angry
crimson glow had bloted outthe stars,
and rested upon the distant mountain
| chains weirdly rejecting fom their
scanned fronts and craggy peaks the
glare of the unrighteous flames. Would
she admire them now?
Surely it was spectacle o enchant
the eye of an unprejudiced spectator,
whose whole possessions wee not be-
ing sacrificed to the effect.
He turned collectively to the scene
before him. There was Still3omething
to be done. The cream of the stock
had been destroyed, but uness some
piles of lumber to the right of the
building were speedily removed, the
fire would communicate will the whole
outside stock, stretched for several
hundred yards along the raifoad track.
He turned to the crowd of men who
stood inactive, gazing upon the scene:
"Come on and help us save the lum-
BERT
A couple of dozen men cane prompt
" forward. The lumbermn saw, to
his surprise, that the volunteers were
almost exclusively composed of the So
called professional men of the town.
The local officials of the railroad,
dapper, well-dressed set Ct fellows,
commonly viewed with coItemptupus
eyes by the Woodworking portion ofthe
population, presented themselves al
most to man. The tall form OF Judge
Cheeseman, stiff and somewhat srla
tocratic legal luminary, doomed up IN
their midst. A quiet-looking little real
estate agent leaped upon q pile of shin
giles and began to fling the punches
down to German chemist below. The
two rival editors, for the least of New
Mexican villages usually boasts its min
iature newspaperdom,) who had ex-
changed shots on Gold Avenue the
previous day, glared cordially at each
other along the lengths of the timbers
they undertook to transport to a place
OF safety. The laboring population
offered scarcely representative, save
in the persons of a few contractors and
mechanics, who had learned to know
and like the pleasant young lumber
man.
The men worked like heroes. Their
energy never waned until faint light
in the east began to rival the red glare
Of the flames, through the medium OF
the high, rare atmosphere, cast over
the desert plains for miles around, and
every piece of lumber was removed to
safe distance.
Worn and wearied, John Proctor sal
down to rest upon the wheel of his own
copying press. A gradual change had
taken place in the ranks of the loungers
Many of the spectators of the night had
gone home to refresh themselves with
nap, and the remainder were rein.
forced by struggling corps of men
who had slept through all the turmoil
and excitement. One of these, stout
fellow with big diamond blazing in
his shirt bosom and mimic beer bot.
tie suspended from his massive watch
chain, was recounting his experience,
as all people reyel in detailing their in
dividual impressions on the occasion Of
a fire.
"You see 1 was sleeping like a log
when Lizzie caught hold of my shout.
der and she SAYS; Bob, Bob, wake up,
l tell you. The sky is all afire anu
there must be an eclipser l reached
up to see if my pocket-book was safe
The words brought back to John
Proctor a sense of the loss he had sus-
tanned. AT that moment Maxon strolled
up, flushed with exertion. He had
just administered sound kicking to a
couple of young Mexcans, whom he
had detected making off with keg of
building hardware.
"Maxon," he said, abruptly, did
that fellow who got me out last night
come out safely HIMSELF"
"Now think of it, returned Maxon
che want hack a rninuta. hI1t bo c.,,. =. /,