Evening star., 1886-09-18

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| same msn come struggling back into the street
/ lugging Hetty in his arms. That man, he laid
around toward the crowd and he yelled, SO that
| his voice sounded above the roaring OF the fire
and the putting OF the engines, he yelled, "a
| doctor! Is there n doctor among you, you peo-
1 pie there: And if there isn't, let some one OF
| You run and fetch one as fast as he knows howl"
/ He yelled tiat; and having done SO, he sort of
| reeled and staggered and next moment he fell
| Nat in the street, right alongside OF Hetty; and
there they laid, the pair OF eni, for all the world
| Now, Sir. reckon you amt had no very hard
| work guessing who tnat man was; but under
stand precisely the points snat lou you cant ,s see
| First. how did Jake, who was bed-ridden, get
| outside the House o Horrors? Second, how did
| Jake, who was blind, see Hetty rush into the
| fire? And third, how did Jake, who wasn't
| able to move muscle on account OF the rheu.
| matsm. how did he manage TO jump out of u
second-story window, lrot about on his legs
| like a prize runner, and finally carry in his
arms a woman that weighed 12O pounds?
| Well, sir. it was this way.
| forgot to tell you, sir. that after Jake was
/ first took blind,t the young fellow whoexamfned
| his eyes at the Eye and Ear DispeDsary, this
young fellow said that the trouble was due to
| what he called IL disarrangement of the atoms
of the optic nerve-which Jake took to mean
/ something like what Pi means, when you re
/ talking about type. The young fellow said
| that with entire rest for some montns-which,
| mind you Jake wasn't rich enough to take
| them atoms might possibly work back into
| their right places, in which case Jake would see
again a good as ever but he said. too, that this
| possibility was IA mighty slim One-OnIy what
| you might call Il ghost OF Il chance. "The real
| thing, says he, 1.-The thing which really would
| have some show OF bringing you around, would
| be sudden and violent shock, of one kind or
another-say a big scare, or a big surprise. or q
/ big what-not, coming ON you WI. no,it no warm
| ing, like thunderclap, that might give your
! system such a general shaking-up. that them
atoms would rearrange themselves in the way
! they ought TO be i'll, and your optic nerve
would begin acting again, good new"
| That's what the young fellow at the dispensary
| said. when Jake and Hetty went round there
! the first time.
Well, sir, on the night which I've been speak
ing about, after Hetty had gone off to make her
dceooo at the theayter, Jake, he laid abed,
a-thlnk1ng about various sorts of things-won-
deriDg how she'd make out, you understand,
and So forth-he laid abed, as l say, like that,
when little by little, along toward 10 o'clock,
Jake. he begun to smell queer kind OF a smell,
which at first he wasn't just sure what it was,
and then gradually he begun TO think it smelt
uncommODly like burning, and then before long
he knew for certain it Was the smell of smoke.
"On,' thinks he. lone of the neighbors has
been putting wood on the fire, and some of the
smoke has got out into the rOOnl.'
That's what he thought first off; hut ne didn't
think that long. TO start with, it wasn't likely
that any body would go to feeding Il fire at 10
O'Clock at night; and then, inside OF five min
utes that there smell had grown so strong that
an idiot might have known it didn't come
from no ordinary stove.
'God"' thinks Jake. "It may belt may be
that the house is on fire.
L tell you, sir, that notion was uideOuS 1t
made his heart stop beating. and him grow
sick and begin to sweat from head to foot. At
o
with It's zoo and odd families asleep in bed, TO
eaten ilre.-IlI never forget the way Jake Ielt
when that idea took shape in his mind. But
next instant he had a worse horror STILL Next
instant lie hembered, what i'll tilc fright of
the time being he'd forgotten somehow, he re-
menberpd how he himself was tied down TO
his bed by the rheumatism, and couldn't stir
across the floor 20 his neck: and he seen.
clear and sharp as a lightning flash, he pros
pect OF being burned alive Il looming up before
nm. IL was Ike an electric shock. The terror
WI> so Intense that every nerve in his body
slvea shiver, and his muscles they drew to-
Sether and Strengthened themselves out with u
sp;.>m, just like they do when man has q tit.
Well, sir. Jake. he laid still, kind OF paral-
yea. Tor about one second; and then he began
pounding Tor dear life with his fist upon the
partition next his bed-the partition which di-
vldeu his room from hls nearest nelghbors,
VINO was an lrshman OF the name of MaIOy. He
pounded away, and pretty soon he heard Nal
10y voice s-cai'ins cut. ''wnai's the matteI:"
Jake didn't want to shout back, "Fire.' TOR
fear that Others than Maloy might hear him,
ana there might be a panic. So. instead ne
says, Come in here as soon your les will
fetch YOU" says he, land I'll tell you Nalloy,
lie began a-Srumbing; but Jake, he kept Oh beg
glng him To come i'll; and by and by Malloy
come around and tried to- open Jake's dOcr.
"lts locked, called out MallOy.
Break it in, them" Jake answers, 81 can't
get 10 1t on account of my rheumatism.
Malioy done IL. Jake heard a thump and a
crash, and Malloy walked into the room.
"Weli! SAYS Malloy. "what the DEVILS the
matter, that you shOud go to waking fellow
upGa tnis hour OF the night?"
et,AEtiter! says Jake, ''Inere's matter enough
ana TO spare. Don't you smell nothing pecu-
Malioy. he give a big sniff with his nose, and
then he answered Il can't say as do
Wei, says Jake, that's because you amt
got no sme!lers. smell smoke. Between YOU
and me. guess this here house is on fire.
Nv hat! yelled Mailoy. Then after Il pause,
81 think you re right. i do smell smoke, as I'm
alive "
"Well," says Jake, "the thing to do is to
wake up the people and get them in % the
street-il possible without causing a rush and
aPaYn,G:: PeYnn:ro ,,o,. cor. ,,on,
thing is TO get you out yourself You're bed
ridden. ana haven as lair IL show as the others.
Come along.
With which Malloy, who was rs big and as
strong as the Boston siu9ger, he picked Jake up
IN his arms, as easy as if he'd been nothing but
a baby. and begun Juggling him downstairs On
the hrst hoor lie stopped at the door OF MIR. Ja-
cob>on. who was the hOusekecper-that IS TO
say. the tenant who got his rent free for look.
in. after the house and keeping things straight
he stopped at the housekeeper's door and he
banged away at it with the Toe OF his boot, till
old Jacobson woke up, and ne told Jacobson
mat the house was on lire, and for him to go
ABOUT rousinS the inmates and getting 'em
out as quick and quiet a. possible, and then he
hurried down 10 the street with Jake in his
arms Every step lower they went that smell
Oh smoke grew stronger and stronger They
was wheeling and coughing like folks with tho
asthma. when they got out into the open air
But Wheh they d1o get into that there open
air, what do you suppose? l don't Know as
you'll believe it; Jake. he hardly believed it
himself; but the truth is, sir strange as il may
seem To you, the truth is that Jake he seen,
Yes, sir. He seen the lamp posts a-.iickerinu
down The street. He seen the stars :i-siiininy i'm
the sky. He seen Malioy a-standing near him
He seen everything there was To be seenas clear
as he'd ever seen them in all his life.
If l was to talk steady from now tfll
dooms-day, sir, never could give you no idea
oi the wonderful, terrible, thrilling feeling that
Jake had when he realized that he actually
seen. As say. at first he couldn't believe it, But
there was the stars. ana there The lamp
posts, and there was Mlloy, all AS large as life:
ana though ii was hard 10 believe IL, il was
harder yet to- doubt il. However. amt going
10 Try to make you understand how Jake felf
because, as told you, / couldn't do it: and THEN
any how L Vc got other things to speak of.
Mailoy, lie carried Jake over To- tue other side
OF the street. and he set him down on the curi,-
stone. ana then he run off TO give the alarm.
Before Tie got back, halt the people had come
out from the House o Horrors and the halfwas
sun a-coniins. A queer lot they looked, too;
many OF them In their night dresses or under
Clothes, jus, as they jumped out of bed and
most o' them carrying bundles OF things which
tney hoped TO save from the fire. The ire also
Whlcn up TO now had been pretty much all
smoke, was beginning to show itself through
the basement windows. II was found q. the in
vestication held by the Fire Marshal, that that
had worked its way up to the root, and gutted
Inc whoic building. But, as / was saving, when
lalIoy got back, the street full people, and
the nelgibor>, they Was waking up too, and
everybody was yelling and hollcrinS as Ii their
lives depended On their making big noise, and
windows on the ground floor. Mailoy, he come
mp to where he'd lett Jake setting, and says he
NOW, thcn, Smitiiie, says he, "yOu'n catcn
Your deiih OF cold setting still out here with
nothing more on than them red fiannels, and
You SuIlei iig from rheuinatisn; SD here goes"