The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1914-10-21

ranged, eyelrg Alan Win Il formidable
| and turned as if persuaded t. mind his
| own business. then swung on his heel,
| caught the two in the very act of open.
! ing the door, and threw himself be-
| tween them.
! An elbow planted heavily in the pit
of the stomach Of one disposed of him
| for the time being. A blow from the
| shoulder sent the other reeling to the
| gutter. And Alan was in the tene
ment's lowermost hali-a foul and
| evil-odored place, dark as pit the
| instant the door was closed, Its murk
relieved only by the fame Of kero-
sene lamp smoking in bracket near
| the foot of the stairs.
Sounds of scutt,ing Of feet were au-
dble on the first landing. Alan ad-
| dressed himself impetuousiy to the
staircase gaming its top in nalf
uOLSll tSIpS, dltc c!Ily III lltA.c ~ StS
door slammed at the forward end of
the hall and hear key turned in its
lock.
A cluster of men blocked the way.
He didn't pause to wait for it to be
cleared, but threw himself headlong
into their midst, and by Gint OF the
surprise had gained the closed door
before they recovered and sought to
stay him.
Indifferent to them all, he shook the
knob and shouted: Rose! Rose!"
Her cry came back to him. muf
fed scream: Alan! Help. Help!"
Backing away with mad idea of
| throwing himself bodily against the
door and breaking it down. he was sud
denly confronted by hideous mask OF
humanity-face of man all misshapen,
bruised and swollen and distigured
with smears Of dried blood and a dirty
bandage round his temples, but none
the less vaguely recognizable.
The words that streamod from its
distorted lips drove recognition home.
Gee, fellers, look't who's here! If
it amt tn guy what threw me offn
that girder this mornin'. Stand back
and let me kill tn"
Without the hesitation of a heart
beat Alan swung heavily for the thugs
jaw Tie blow went solidly home.
The man fell like a poled OK.
pandemonium ensued. Raiiying to
their comrade the ruftians attacked
Alan with one mind and one intent.
Murder would have been done then
and there had it not been for a rotten
banster-rail, which gave way, precipi-
tating the lot to the ground floor of
the hallway.
simultaneously the lamp on the wall
was struck from its bracket and
crashed to the floor, its glass well
breaking and locsing flood OF kero-
sene to receive the burning wick. The
explosion followed instantly. In
trice the hallway was a lake of burn.
ing oil, and hungry flames We're lick.
ing up the rotting wallpaper and eat.
ing into decayed baseboards and stair.
treads.
Still fighting like mailman, con-
testing every foot of the way, Alan
was borne down the hall and out of
the front door. A scream of Fire"
greeted him as he reeled out into the
open. 1t was echoed by dozen
threats.
The doorway vomited men and
women OF the tenement. They choked
it for time, blocking both egress and
ingress. BY the time they broke out
and left the way clear a solid wall Of
fame stood behind it.
Thrice Alan essayed to pass that
barrier of fire, and thrice it threw him
back. Then, struggling and kicking
to release himself and try again, he
was seized by Il brace of able-bodied
policemen and rushed fifty feet from
the house before let so.
Lack of breath checked him momen-
tarily.
He looked up, dashing from his
smartins eyes tears drawn by the
sitting clouds OF smoke, and saw
vaguely at the second story window a
woman leaning out and shrieking for
help.
That it was hopeless to attempt the
staircase he well knew. Drawing
aside. he endeavored to come to his
sober senses. and cast about for some
more feasible way to effect the rescue
of his Rose.
The tenement occupied one corner
of narrow street. Directly opposite,
a storage warehouse stood upon the
other corner. Before this last was the
common landing stage for truck de.
liveries, protected by shed.roof.
And, suspended from timber that
peered out over tho caves. a hosting