The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-12-19
A SURREY FD|RIE.
A Story Of Girl, a Man and
aGreat Conflagration.

4 ~S''06' ~s'S's
~~~~~~~~~
Joan West could not sleep. Her mind
was troubled and restless, her body III at
ease. A strong and healthy girl at the
| age Of IS does not often lie sieepless, but
I Joan was In love, and the course thereof
was not running as smoothly as she had
| every reason to believe and expect that 1t
| would. Joan and Will Larkins, the
! gamekeeper, had had words-altogether
unnecessary words--about an imaginary
| grievance. There was petty Jealousy on
| his side and wounded pride on hers.
J The result was that he was sulky and
disagreeable and she piqued and resent
J full of his humors. And now, when by
| chance they met, he thrust his hands In
his pockets, with an offhand:
| "Mornin, Miss West" On which she
! tossed her head and replied:
! Good day, Mr.. Larkins."
F.! The night had been hot and sitting.
To lie and sleep in comfort was an i'm
, possibility. so when she heard the
kitchen clock strike she resolved to
quit her bedroom and, without disturb
/ ing any one, go down and do n bit of
churning in the cool dairy. She dressed
quickly and descended
There is very little darkness on a fine
night in the height of summer. Still, the
sun does not rise so carly as 3 O'Clock,
neither does he appear first in the north
! west, which was the direction toward
which the dairy window looked. Whence
came, then, that glow which was reflected
upon the white walls, dancing weirdly
and Enthusiastically? And what was that
rushing, Kissing, cracking noise? !
The girl locked forth upon the hillside, !
wondering. 1t was on fire! That had i
been the reason Of the glow outspread |
upon the white walls, and the kissing, t
cracking sound wus the rush of the !
flames along the ground as they swept !
upward, consuming the towering gorse
bushes and dwarfed growth of oak scrub. /
She gazed moment upon the sight with
sort of spallbound fascination. and then
the thought struck her how periiously
near those flames were to the cottages
nesting half way up the hill! Their in
mates doubtless were all asleep, for no
human sounds mingled with the cracking
of the fire. She must run and warn
them. Even as the thought flashed
through her mind her feet were carrying
her nimbly up the hill. Breathlessy
Joan hammered at both doors, shouting
the alarm:
"Firc! Fre!'
Windows were thrust open, and startled
voices exclaimed; Where? Where?'
Close by. on the hillside" answered
Joan, and she hurried away to give the
alarm elsewhere. She knew well that
to extingllis.i flames which had once OBJ
tanned u mastery over the vegetation,
which was now dry as finder through
long continued drought. would be no
cl;1s play. The air, till now full only
OF kissing, cracking and roaring sounds,
echoed also with the shouts and calls of
men. AS If by magic. dark figures hur-
rled up the hillside in quick succession,
each one armed with some formidable
weapon of attack wherewith to match
himself against the fiery foe. A gentle
breeze ap"ang up and famed the flames
into quicker life. Whence came it?
From the southwest So there was no
longer any fear for the cottages. The
fire was climbing the hill, leaving the
black and desolated track in its rear.
More than one woman-JOan West
among their number-as they stood look
ing On, Ereatheh fervent thanksgiving
for this dolvrrance.
will they beat it out afore it gets
among the trees. think ye?" asked one
Of the nriti!bors
4 doubtful shake of the head from the
other woman.
ITS got powerful hold" said she,
"and must ha' bin burnin long arore joan
ru"sc; The men. Lor, Joan. girl. twas a
providence AS ye had n wakGfuI night.
Where's viii Larkns, | woulcr? He'll
lie out with The others, surely. He's ever
first at fire"
Joan wondered also. She had not seen
him when the men gathered from all
around
How come the scrub alight?" asked
another. "t)ne 'ud say as twas done o
parnosp, for doughty as it's the furze
dont set itself aight,"
Him rs done il knew what ah was
about. scttin of it atire 50 near The
houses. All reckoned as suspicion might
fail on them as lived in EN-"
This was II daring whisper to get
abroad. but one of greater import still
was hat which mentioned the name of Il
'ipsy old charcoal burner who had been
working in the pine woods for the last
three weeks ~dclng which time small
fires. soon localized. had given rise to
several short lived excitcments in the
nrishborhood. How the present fire had
originated, however. was of minor i'm
portance just then. The one thing to be
done was to limit its extent and to en-
tingui>h it as speedily as possible. Judg-
ing by appearances, this seemed unlikely !
to happen, for the gentle breeze grew
and grew til it was rufied into q small J
gale and sent the flames flying before it
in a mad career. Thick volumes of gray
smoke began to ascend from the other I
side Of III" bill. hanging in the morning {
mir abnr" Witty conrsing lower cur.
rents lik' clouds. Moreover, these I
smoke rr appeared to rise from {
various p - This was startling
sign, and Vie watching women under |
stood its Significance Joan West was a !
watcher no longer. Flying home. she rous- |
cd every available man and saw them off t
in n strong brigade for action at the /
front. THIN. throwing the care Of butter
making aside she shortened her skirts, c
tied on Il sunbonnet and followed in the I
wake.
The attraction of fire is irresistible. t
If il is grand and tcrribc sight in the
crowded streets OF great city it is far ?
more grand and terrible when the fuel to h
BE- CONSUMED consists of acres upon acres d
of pine woods. 1t is beautiful, too, with b
q wild and awful beauty difficult to de-
scribe.
wild sight it was that greeted the -.
eyes Of many onloOkers as the sun rose u
upon clear and yellow sky with the Z
promise Of another day of brazen heat. .
From three distinct points assembled II
dense columns of smoke already lurid n
with flame. Wherever the gaze turned D
there destruction was advancing with I,
giant strides. The hillside was now II
swept bare, but the fire, having reached a.
dcnser growth crept insdiously on, de. p
flying all efforts to extnguish it. The u
flames had already leaped over the road ="
which divided the hillside from the dark :,
pine woods. The tall trees were in the n
grip of the fiery foe, their branches sway "
ing and wrthing as the hungry flames "
leapcd and curled around and up them II, IN
a deadly embrace, tossing forked re, o
tongues high into the air. 1t was pltifu! II
cIupl. A II groom thinyc eo,p,al D., ,,;,, II