Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1907-08-01

der company was changing. and he
looked up at the fifth floor Of the fac
tory, his blue eyes dark with dread
The girls were trying the escapes,
but even SO soon the iron was blister
Ing hot, and their cries OF pain made
tie crowd below shlyer There was
q voice al his elbow, and Burke turned
as he was on his way into the building.
II was OFernll, the policeman, and,
under his helmet, his face was white
and drawn.
Burke. nay sisters up there on the
fifth floor All the other girls are ont,
but the top floor crowd is cut OF. The
stairway's burning now. There's twenty
girls penned in up there. and the smoke
will get them sure before the flames.
Burke nodded grlmly. The hook aud
ladder had drawn up outside.
IN go up and get them to the win
dows," he said. Hurry up the lad
ders."
A great stiffness fell on tile waiting
crowd that packed the street bero1d
the stretched ropes. As the big ladders
were put in position II leaked out that
one fireman had gone To fight his way
up through the burning stairs To save
the fifth floor lacers. Then all at once
cheer went up, and 0'Ferrall looked
up. The ladders were up, two of them,
and steadily working their way down
each one were two fire laddies, each
with a limp girls figure over one aril.
O'Ferrall knew what II meant Burke
had reached the floor and was getting
the girls to the windows, and the big,
smooth faced policeman shut his lips
tighter and thanked God for the pluck
that lies In the smoke eaters heart.
Burke counted the girls as he made
his way back and forth through the
smoke, steadily, grimly. gasping now
and then at the window, then going
back for more. Some had tainted,
but most were anxious TO help and
kept their nerve. As he handed Sue
McManus out Of the window he asked
where Margery was. Sue was the last
of the regular girls.
"She fell over by the stairs trying
to shut the safety doors" Sue told him
sobbingly. You'll never get her.
Tom"
Burke looked back. A hook and lad
der boy was yelling to him to get out
that the floor was weakening.
wait, One morep he answered |
and went at the thick black smoke
that hid where the stairway had been. |
He never knew afterward how he |
had found her. 1t seemed a frlghtful
nightmare OF fighting blindly at leap !
Ing fiends OF fame that tugged and |
throttIed him and choked out his life !
By inches. And then somewhere In |
the fiery hell he had found her, felt |
the slender, limp figure and lifted ii |
in his arms. close To his heart.
There was just one thing about that |
rescue that Margery never was sure
OF until long after her wedding day. |
Then one autumn night when Officer |
OFerrall had dropped In on the new |
home to say a brotherly blessing |
Burke told:
IF I hadn't thought it was all up |
with us / never would have done it."
he explained penitently, ''but when / |
measured the distance TO the window |
and heard the loft crash back OF me |
just thought 1t was quick heaven for |
mine and then death, and kissed her.
kissed her and never had an introduc-
ton to her even. But 1t didn't matter. |
Dead or alive. knew had the right. |
She was the only girl in the world for |
me-"
And Mrs. Burke blushed softly and |
ran her hand over the thick brown
curls OF her smoke eater.
"Ain't he the bold boy. thought" she |
said tenderiy. II knew 1t oil the time |
and thought It was dream. but I |
knew 1t just the same"