The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-22


sent by the lieutenant came up shout
ing, Fires at the elevator shaft!'s
They turned and ram
German had gone down to the roof
to get Hanrafan, and found him lying
on his face on the bricks.
The men're comm up the ladders"
ne said Hanrahan sprang to his feet
with this new hope of life and followed
MN around the tank to the parapet.
They looked down, to see the empty
ladder, twenty feet below them, hang
ing in the flames, with blazing rope
dangling from the center of it into the
smoke. He'll" German said disgust
edly.
Hanrahan stared at the abandoned
apparatus. 'T guess" he said, in a new
voice.
He turned back with German to the
front of the tank again. There was a
lun in the wind; the smoke and the
flames rose up straight on two sides Of
the roof, and the bricks were hot under
their feet. There was no escape now.
We got one chance left, German said.
We can get in the tank
Hanrahan shook his head. mo use,
Bull" he answered. Il got to cash ins
guess" - .@ss :,
German cursed him, "Well, / ain,t,m
he said. Get hold of this ladder
He braced himself with foot against
the tin covering of the tank, bent his
s back and tugged to loosen the ladder
from its fastenings. Hanrahan helped
him. They strained and struggled with
all the strength of every muscle, and
the great screws in the. sockets of the
uprights came out slowly as if they
had been sunk In. wax. Once having
loosened it's hold they levered the lad
der, twisted it, and .wrenched it free.
German crawled under the steel beams
and turned off the stop-cock there.
Then they both climbed aloft, lowered
the ladder into the tank and slid down,
one on each side of the rungs. into the
water. They drank together, sunk to
the teeth. -. Z
German ducked. you'd better tie
yourself on,'' he spluttered. "Well be
eating smoke before long,
The scuttle was a red square of light
above them, and they could see each
others faces as pale blurs of no recog-
nizable feature in the darkness They
. stripped off their upper clothing, and
bound themselves under their arms to
the ladder.
$ They could hear the crackle and roar
OF flames outside. There was a pecking
of scattered rain on the tin above them.
wish I had somethin' t eat" Gor-
man said
Hanrahan sighed again. I'D like
something to breathe better"
He was choking with heat and smoke.
He rested his chin on the rung Of the
ladder. He was tired and dizzy. He
seemed to be drifting on clouds Of
smoke, blown about In storm and heat,
a glowing spark above the flames. His
Z mind wandered in a delirium Of suffo-
cation. He heard Germans voice, at a.
great distance, say, Wind changed
SOUTH" =;
Daybreak found the "f1reproof" Man-
sard building a smoking and blackened
cIn1I Oh l. ~k<- "a
f1remen putting out the last smolder in
the gutted rooms. They fought their
way up slowly from floor to floor, until
by noon Capt. Ball and squad of his
company, looking for their dead,
reached the stairs leading to the roof.
They found there the blackened noz-
zle which German had abandoned to
the fire. They went up the stairs hope-
lessly and, burst open the door to see
German himself - red -eyed and drip
ping and stripped to the waist-sitting
on the edge of the tank, beating with
his heels on its sides and singing crazy
nothings in the voice Of insanity.
Capt. Ball went over to him and
called up, where's Hanrahan?"
He winked and pointed down into
the tank. I'm the king of the castle,
he sang. I'm the king of the castle.
I'm the king-what's Hanrahan? Pete,
Pete, Delicate Pete! Oh, he's a SPELL
binder, talkin' hot air. Comm
up? Come on up. 1t amt as hot up
here as 1t was.'
And they found Hanrahan, uncon-
scious but alive, still tied to the ladder,
and floating with his head between the
rungs.
Two weeks later, when German re-
ported for duty at the engine house, his
first question was for Delicate Pete.''
Him? ?" the lieutenant said. "Oh, he's
quit the department. He's goin' to join
the police"