Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-12

ously at the panels holding his breath
against a heat that scared his eyes and
cracked his lips-that dried his body till It
seemed his skin was suit Of itching wool
on him-that set the blood beating In his
head as If his skull would burst. He kicked
franticaily at the door, turned his back on
it and pounded at it with his heel. His
lungs were fighting with him for breath
of the deadly heat, and his head was Keeling
| muscles in one last gathering Of his last
strength. and, with a despairlng kick, put
his heel through the panel. He kicked 1t
out clean with weaker blow, fell forward
| on Waters. dragged him across the boards,
put the private's bare head through the
opening. and lay down himself, with his
head on his arms. at the mercy OF the
flames
conscious and took them out to the roof.
They were carried down through the adjoin-
Ing house. burned and blackened. but still
alive: They were taken to the emergency
ward of a hospital in the one ambulance;
their burns were dressed together; and they
were put to bed in two cots side by side.
1t was there that PIN dismissed the class
in his select school of instruction two weeks
later, when Waters was leaving the hos
pltal, cured. and the sergeant still lay,
swathed like mummy. in his cot. Waters
had been trying to thank him without quite
forgiving him for his truck house persecu-
ton. PIN had put aside this clumsy show
of gratitude with a pathetic half-smie that
rrembled between the burned briste of his
upper lip and the indicated cotton that
covered bis chin. Il guess gave you a
bad two days down at the house, he said
in an old mans voice, thin and weak with
illness. NO harm done, Ell? None meant.
Well, good luck, Waters. Can't
shake hands. They've got me in ten-ounce
gloves He spread his handaged hands on
the coverlet
Waters would not accept this dismissal.
Nm 10 oil
at the house.
PIN rolled his head on the pillow. NO"
he said slowly Pm out. I'm down an
out. They've got me my back.
| That's right. They've got me down. 1t
was the sum of two weeks of bitter retiec-
tion-two weeks of looking back a life of
disappointed hopes and lost ambitions.
Waters" he said you've got pull. Use
it-use 1t fer all it's worth. Yuhll have to
crawl to a lot of dubs, but yuh have to do
that in any business: It's the way to get
on. tried the other way, an they get the
laugh on yuh all right"
Waters said: What yuh call a CRATER?
Yuh roasted me good an hot on that. And
1t wasn't true. neither. 1 didn't graft
Il was fool" PIN said. Il always was.
If 1 had my life to live over Well, / guess
I'd do the same thing again. That's me.
That's Jim PIN. But If yuh want the las
word on Jim PIN, he's been fool. Young
an old. he's been fool"
"Oh, l guess not Waters said, half
heartedly. PIN shook his head, but did not
reply. Waters felt himself incapable of
further consolation. He shifted his weight
from foot to foot. He fumbled with his hat.
We'll, goodbye" he said, huskily.
PIN licked his dry lips. Goodbye,
Waters" he whispered, Take care O yer
self"
Waters returned to duty the last FRI
day in March. 1t was on the following Sum
day that the Hansard building was burned.
Early in the afternoon hurricane-pre-
dicted by the weather bureau-Whrled up
from the far southwest and struck the city
with the back sweep Of a northeast gale
that drove the rain IN sheets before it,
scooped it up from the cutters, tossed 1t in
waves against the houses and carried 1t
breast high along the streets, cold, solid and
singing, like small shot At nightfall this
rain ceased, and 1.-THE wind, free of the
weight of water, leaped forward TO the We
loCity of a tornado.
1t 10 o'clock when policeman
Broadway, shetering himself in doorway
from the storm, saw the light of flames
dancing in the basement windows of
wholesale clothing house that stood on the
street corner across the road; and he turned
in an immediate alarm. Before tho first en-
gne companies could arrive the sidewalk
gratings so many gridirons a
leaping fire. BY the time the second alarm
was answered the whole ground floor was
ablaZe and the heat had driven the pipemen
back from the doors With the third alarm
the flames burst from the roof in q stream
of sparks that rose from the bellows-draft
of that gigantic forge and danced in the wind
up the north wall of the adjoining Hansard
building to the full height of its sixteen
stories.
Engines were ordered to connect with the
standpipes of that build ng; engine. COM
panies were rushed up the elevators with
their hose. to fight the fire from the win
dows: truck companies were sent up with
extra lines TO assist them; and Company
No. followed last with orders TO wet down
the north wall from the roof. There's a
inh amt aey11 a1
Corrigan and Waters reached the roof
with the nozzle of line of hose that was
being laid from the standpipe of the top
floor: and they came out into the night
dragging their length of line to face a gale
of wind that took the breath from between
their teeth. They struggled against 1t,
through the darkness, toward the light of
fire over the parapet and they looked down
there, through the smoke. at the flames in
the roof of the clothing house twelve stories
below them.
Capt. Meaghan, behind them cried back
to the other men: Start yer water ana
line of hose and gushed from the pipe. He
cursed IT, 1T can't spit past its chin" he
shouted in a passionate disgust that lifted
his voice above the storm.
The stream strengthened as they watched
II. Keep victim her down." he shouted in
Corrigan's ear. Get up another line" he
cried to the rest of the crew. The rushing
OF the wind drowned their answer. but they
hurried below to obey him
He remained with Corrigan and Waters.
watching the fire spread and brighten In the
roof of the clothing house; and Corrigan
was still grinning at his Cant spit past it's
chin" They were 200 feet above the street
level. and the storm, hurting itself across
the huddled roofs below them, drew UP a
draft of heat and smoke to them as if they
We're looking down a chimney. They could
guess what the heat must be in the street,
for across the road the woodwork of the
windows of a fiVe-story building had caught
fire without the touch OF any flame, and
crew of pigmes We're drenching it with
stream which they shot up straight from
the sidewalk.
Officers the size of manikins ran up and
down in the rudy glow waving their little
arms. The fire giowed over the roof as If
1t We're burning Oil; and the smoke came
up to them thicker and the heat more
sitting with every breath.
Their weak stream dribbled down the
wall. to dry out the hot bricks before it
touched the point of danger; and Corrigan
leaned over the parapet to that the
paint was beginning 10 peel off in great
scales far below. Waters and he tried hope
lessly TO reach these by swinging the pipe
from side to side. They might as well have
tried TO irrigate a desert with it. Their