Evening star., 1926-05-09

into the main thoroughfare, Ira
falgar road. Somewhat farther on
down Is the foot ball ground, where
Bursley had never yet defeated Knype,
and then there is O. corner upon
which there stood for centuries
small earthenware factory-one small
| factory succeeding another there
from Plantagenet times onward. Young
Eddie Colclough had recently razed a
| small factory to the ground and was
| just finishing the erection Of a new
one Of an experimental type, wherein
various modern lodges OF economic
organization were to be tested.
AS he passed the building Mr.. Cur
| tenty's watchman's nose shifted the
! air. in the manner Of g. tiger shifting
distant blood Mr.. Curtenty became a
nose and nothing but n nose; and his
! grievance and his purpose were equal
| ly forgotten. 1t might be said that
Mr.. Curtenty had no trade; but that
! he had profession was richly demon
strated in that shifting moment. He
| shifted the night arch foe
smoke indicating fire.
! He looked at the facade, whose up
per windows were still unglaZed, and
could see no curling wisp of smoke.
But he had faith in his nose. Though
the gates of the large central arch
way had not yet been put in place,
the archway was stoutly boarded, and
/ Mr.. Curtenty could not get through it.
! He ran along and climbed a rough
fence at the side of the factory, and
! so reached the back. which was less
securely protected than the front
!, from marauders. The next instant he
was in the streWn yard. And his
| nose was justified, for he saw smoke
meandering furtively, ominously, from
| first floor window. And his eye
detected a faint glow within.
Mr.. Curtenty was gloriously alive.
The price OF Scheele's acid was moth
| ing to him. He was professionally
| inspired. He was happy in the midst
Of calamity and conflagration. He
xnew the first thing to do and the
| second thing to do and did not hesi-
| tate a moment. In "a quarter OF
minute he was in Trafalgar road
again. A policeman. a policeman to
take charge. But there was no police
man. There was nobody except three
girls. swinging along the oozy pave
ment Mr.. Curtenty ignored them.
But at the corner OF the tiny square,
In front of Bleakridge's church.
burned a real lamp. DR.. Acker-
| ingtons, Of course. Mr., Curtenty
ran to the house and violently rang
the bell
| The door opened.
Ere, You're in a 'urry. said a
stern, fat. middleaged maid in a cap
and apron. as soon as she satisfied
herself that MIR. Curtenty did not Gs-
long to the ruling class
Ave ye got the telephone here"
Mr.. Curtenty demanded stifiiy.
"And IL we have, you can't use it,
"Who wants for to use il? You
tell your master or missus as Col
cIough's new pot banks afre, and
they mum telephone for the fire bri-
gade' And as the maid. startled
and impressed and stricken. did not
Immediately move. he added. Ana
look slippy.' Then he ran off.
WITHIN the yard OF the works
w once more, he deserted in the
darkness what looked like a mound OF
sand. He put his hand into It, 1t
was a mound Of sand. Selling one or
several buckets which the builders
men had left. he filled 1t with SAND
and searched for and found stairs and
gingerly mounted them in the black
darkness, and, guided by his trium.
phant nose, he passed through a corrf-
| dor and into a large suffocating room,
which room was illuminated by the
| fire.
| planks of wood were just beginning
| to crackle. With the sand he smother
ed their ardor. But there was not
! enough sand. He descended again
with empty bucket, bungled the stairs,
| fell. hurt his ankle, swore. Nmped, got
more sand. ascended. After three such
ascents he had extinguished the fire
and was in darkness. But he had
! seen enough to decide the origin Of the
| fire. The usual thing. Workmen had
been bivouacking in the room, they
had made fire in the grateless
hearth--one Of your sprawling fires
and they had not put it out on leav-
ing. A few embers had reached a
plank leaning at a broad angle against
the nlantelpiece, had patiently attacked
the root Of the plank-a slow busi-
ness, but in the end successful; the
plank, deprived Of it's base. had fallen
sideways on to heap Of other planks.
And so on. Had not the entire place
sweated with damp 1t might have been
a heap Of ruins at the moment when
Mr.. Salter's rapacity had driven Mr..
Curtenty in the direction Of Han
bridge.
Mr.. Curtenty. his occupation gone
limped through other corridors and
rooms until he saw the light pf
| Trafalgar Road lamps through an
unglaZed window. He looked out, him
self unseen. A crowd, small but in.
creasing. was gazing stolidly up at
the facade Of the works. It could
perceive nothing Of interest; it had no
impulse to do anything: it merely
gazed, in the faint hope Of witnessing
some terrible catastrophe. No police.
men! No f1re-engine! A tramcar roared
by, unheeding. Mr.. Curtenty continued
to look out. proud, patient, invisible,
scornful of the crowd. He was trium.
phant-nearly as triumphant as he
had been so minutes earlier when he
held the sacred phial in his hand
| What a world. What a destiny!
y X X X
1.-THE expectant crowd in the mire
was in due course rewarded by the
exciting arrival, from Hanbridge way
| of a motor-car full Of people-Eddie
Colclough. a young newly married
wife and friends. DR.. Ackering-
ton being out, Mrs. Ackerington had
telephoned not only to the fire brigade
but to Eddie, who lived at Cauldon,
between Hanbridge and Oldcastle. Mr..
| and Mrs. Eddie were entertaining at
dinner two gentlemen and a lady and,
all being young and adventurous. they
had instantly decided to leave dinner
and come in a body to the scene of
the announced confiagration.
Mr.. Curtenty, seeing them and
guessing that Mr.. Colclough must be
among them, went downstairs with