The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-10
--D Daily Short Story--
BULLDOG BLUSHES

made connections with little Peter
Maxim and wrapped a blanket
around his mead.
But as Patrolman Egan carried
him, little Peter cried out sharply
with pain for the metal shield on
Patrolman Egan's breast was so hot
it burned Peters bare leg, and that
hurt.
THEY reached the sidewalk in
n safety. If that were all But
it wasn't. No sooner had Peters
head been unwrapped than he used
the first gulp of fresh air to expel
howl of anguish for-"Emma!"
Emma Em-m-ma-" walled
Peter, and Patrolman Egan, minus
half his hair and with one eyebrow
crisped to curly black, surveyed
Peter in shocked dismay.
Wherein hell was Emma?" Pa
trolman Egan wanted to know.
I'm the -k-kithin-," sobbed
Peter, wildly.
Patrolman Egan took back the
blanket and wrapping his own
singed head in it, went back up
for Emma.
He was dazed. Dazed with smoke
and pain, for he was already badly
burned. His hands were raw and
scared and the inside of his blanket
hood smelled of his own singed
flesh.
He reached the fifth floor flats
AMI went through them, all four OF
them, doggedly-but he found no
answer to his roar: "Emma-Em-
ma !"
At last, as he cast final glance
about the Rear East kitchen, he saw
something covering behind the
stove.
IT'S thing that has happened a
l. dozen times before. Patrolman
Egan should have known better.
There's been the rescue of the snake
charmers pet python, named
Evangeline. The saving of the div
ing venus pet seal. The-but what's
the odds?
The fact remains that Patrolman
Egan went back into the fiery fur
mace of martyrdom to find little
Peter Makins Emma, and found her
covering behind the stove. He
clutched at her as the only remain
ing sign of life and made a lunge
for the stairs.
The stairs eluded him at every
step. They crumbled beneath his
heavy feet, blazing cheerfully, and
reached up long fingers of bright
flame to tickle him. He made the
top three flights in nothing fiat,
and those three caved in behind
and above him, crisscrossing their
cracking embers trickily, like a
monstrous game of jackstraws,
sending down showers of sparks
upon him and Emma as he stag
gered blindly down the last two
flights. And found the front en-
trance to the building barred by a
fallen timber that looked to him like
a California redwood.
Cursing madly, Patrolman Egan
disposed of Emma in the only man
ner conceivable to insure the free
dom of both hands and went to
work on the hot timber with
scorched might and lacerated main.
OUTSIDE the burning building
" the crowd had ceased to yell.
Ceased even to exclaim. An awful
silence fell upon Peal Street. 1t was
a matter of seconds before the blaz-
ing front wall of the tenement
would cave in.
For the first time there was pub
lie feeling concerning Patrolman
Egan converged into unified emo
tion-and that emotion was awe. AS
one man, Peal Street mourned Pa
trolman Egan, who had gone to
what must be certain doom for little
Peter Makins Emma.
Peal Street is tough, but Patrol
nan Egan was tougher. The gap
ing, horror stricken crowd saw that
miracle. The blazing curtain across
the front door parted and through
it came strange, beaSt-like figure,
on all fours-a burly, heavy Shout
dered figure prowling through fire
and smoke with lowered head and
forelegs grotesquely arched.
cts a bulldog" breathed some
body with a mad giggle. cts not a
man at ALL"
The thing crept forward inch by
inch, beyond the circle of intolerable
heat, where it crouched, Keeling on
all-fours, swaying, and in the teeth
of it was small striped kitten,
mewing mildly. A singed kitten, but
neatly, safely clamped by the scruff
of its neck, in Patrolman Egan's
powerful jaws.
DEFORE hands of aid could reach
- him, Patrolman Egan had spat
out the, kitten, which landed intact
on four springed paws, and was
caught to the sobbing breast of little
Peter Maxim. Jaw, gee-that's
Emmai"
Patrolman Egan stood erect. He
glared, his eyes red in the crisped
frame of burnt lashes. WHAT" he
roared. That's Emma?'
A wave of historical laughter
broken with sobbing awe rose up to
engulf him, and grinning sheepishly
Patrolman Egan blushed a deep,
pervasive crimson. Then he reeled
oddly, turned a little aside on his
heavy heels, and fell.
When he came out of the hospital
they were waiting for him. All
Peal-st. Not with honors, not with
bands or bunting. Not even with
words of embarrassed praise. But
with the rarer tribute of eight hours
a day of reasonably good behavior.
Today you may test the matter,
if you will. It's true. Peal-st re-
spects the Law for at least eight