A LOUD CALL FOR HELP.
A BELL began to ring wildly near by.
"That's over to the place where the bull belongs; sure the row ain't
there, Elmer?" asked Ty, as he hurried on the heels of the leader.
Elmer paused to listen again.
"No," he said, positively, "most all the racket is over yonder in the
direction of the Brady house. You can hear the women screaming, too.
Come along again, boys! They've heard the racket over here, and that
bell's to call the men in from the fields."
"Sounds just for all the world like what I've read about an Injun attack
in the good old pioneer days," declared the panting Landy, who had to
exert himself more than any of the others in order to keep up with the
procession.
"Theemth like I thmell thmoke!" remarked Ted.
"I reckon you do, because I've been getting it for the last half
minute," Elmer threw over his shoulder as he ran on.
"That means a fire!" cried Ty.
"It generally does," Elmer added, dryly.
"What if the Brady house is going up in flames?" ejaculated Ty, again.
"It would be a bad job," remarked Elmer; "but not quite as hard on them
as if it happened in the dead of winter, with the thermometer down to
zero."
"But it's always a hard job fighting fire in such steaming hot weather
as this September spell!" Landy observed, as he dug for his
handkerchief, so as to wipe his red face, which was beginning to reek
with perspiration.
"There, I saw smoke over the trees; it's a house afire, as sure as
anything, boys, and the Brady one at that!" declared Ty.
None of them doubted it now, since all the indications seemed to point
that way. They kept up their forward rush, hoping to at least be able to
lend a helping hand in the way of getting some of the furniture out;
because that is generally all that can be done at a country blaze, when
there are no fire engines to respond to the call for aid.
They were rapidly overtaking several persons who seemed to be hurrying
in the same direction they themselves were bound. Two of these were
women, and the other a very old man, whom the excitement had stirred
into unwonted action.
"What is it?" asked Elmer, as he was passing the three.
"The Brady house must be afire!" answered a young woman, who seemed to
have her wits fairly well in hand.
None of the boys stopped, though Landy's tongue was almost hanging from
his mouth because of the exertion on such a hot morning. They continued
to bound along steadily, and expected to come in sight of the burning
house at any moment now.
As they burst out from the cover it stood before them. Smoke was coming
from windows and doors in heavy volumes; and evidently the fire must
have managed to get considerable headway before being discovered.
A number of women were running excitedly up and down doing nothing to
aid in saving property, or subduing the flames. Several men were
present, and seemed to be wholly engaged in carrying out some of the
furniture belonging to the parlor. A small cabinet organ had been rolled
over on the grass, and then they added heaps of books to the wreckage.
"Why don't they try and save the house, Elmer?" asked Ty, as they saw
what was going on.
"I don't know, unless it's because they have no leader, and nobody is
able to tell what to do," replied the other.
Elmer was taking the scene in with eyes that nothing escaped. Even while
he was running forward toward the fire he saw that there was a
fair-sized stream close to the barns. His attention was directed to it
chiefly because of a flock of big white Pekin ducks that were flapping
their wings, and adding their loud quacks to the general excitement.
"If we only could find plenty of buckets, something might be done!" he
called back over his shoulder, never stopping an instant in making for
the building that was threatened with destruction.
"I see three right now by that pump!" cried Ty.
"Plenty more in the barn, Elmer!" added Ted, who saw what the other had
in his mind, and thought it worth trying.
"There's a lot of tin milk buckets hanging on that fence!" called Landy.
"Go for 'em, fellows!" ordered the patrol leader. "Gather all you can
find, and begin to fill 'em at the brook. I'll see if these ladies won't
stand in line, and pass them along."
"Hurrah for the Hickory Ridge Fire Brigade!" shouted Landy, fully filled
with the novel idea.
Each of them made a bee-line for the buckets in sight, and, gathering up
all they could lay hands on, immediately started for the water, where a
great dipping began, to the intense amazement and consternation of the
ducks, which could not understand why these strangers should try to
empty their favorite little stream without asking their permission.
Meanwhile Elmer must have managed to explain after a fashion what he
purposed doing. He had already coaxed two of the women to stand ready to
take the buckets as they came along, and these were shouting to the
others.
"More buckets! Try in the barns for some!" called Elmer, as, seizing one
of the first that arrived, he rushed up to where a tongue of fire had
suddenly darted out of a window, like a snake that was striking, and
sent the contents of his receptacle through into the room.
Now something a little more like sense seemed to seize upon those
present. All they needed was a leader, some one capable of giving
orders; and it would be surprising how much could be accomplished.
The men stopped trying to save the furniture. If the building could be
kept from burning to the ground the things it contained might have a
chance of being spared. They rushed away to the barn, as though knowing
where horse buckets were to be found; and Elmer knew that he had found
several willing allies in his battle with the flames.
He saw that these men were the farmer himself, and his son, almost a man
in size. The two farm hands were not to be seen; and this fact gave
Elmer a strong idea that in truth they might have been responsible for
the fire itself. Sometimes when a robbery has been committed the thieves
will try to cover all traces of their work by burning the building.
By the time those other women had arrived he believed he would have
enough on the ground to form a living chain between the brook and the
house, so that the full buckets could be passed swiftly along from hand
to hand, and the empties returned after the same fashion for a fresh
start.
Inside of five minutes after the Boy Scouts arrived on the spot it was a
lively scene that was taking place. The smoke continued to pour out of
the windows; but whenever a bit of flame showed itself, Elmer or Ty was
ready to dash a bucket of water on the same.
"Keep up the good work, fellows!" shouted Landy, who was filling the
buckets at the time. "She ain't gaining much, now; and every one that
comes just adds to the fire brigade, so's to send the buckets along
faster. I'm coming over to help fight soon as that farmer's boy gets
here!"
"Say, if only we had all our troop here, Elmer, wouldn't we make short
work of it, though?" asked Ty, who was beginning to turn many shades
darker because of the smoke that swept past him every little while.
"We'll do it as we are!" answered the patrol leader, firmly; for he
believed that they must soon begin to get the mastery over the hungry
flames.
Then Landy came staggering along, bearing with him a huge bucket, which
he expected to dash personally on some place where it would do the most
good. The farmer's boy had arrived to take his place at the brook, which
set him free for sterner duties.
"Go for it, fellers!" he gasped; and then as a wicked looking finger of
fire darted out toward him he emptied the contents of his pail in that
direction. "Plenty more where that came from. The crick'll hold out all
right, if only we can get it up here fast enough. That's the way, Ty,
soak it to the measly old thing. We're going to win out yet, see!"
It was the right sort, of spirit to show at any rate; and afterwards his
chums had only words of praise for Landy's conduct.
"If we c'n only hold out long enough, we're just bound to knock this old
fire into a cocked hat!" Ty managed to cry out, as he seized another
bucket, and turned to look for a chance to use it.
Just then he noticed a small girl standing near by, sobbing as if her
heart would break. She seemed to be looking up toward the second story
windows of the house that was on fire, as though there might be
something that she longed to save up there.
Ty was immediately thrilled with the thought that it might be a human
being. Nobody had as yet said anything about a missing person, whether a
child, a very old man, or a woman; but this might come from the fact
that such tremendous excitement held everybody in its grip.
Ty had read about daring feats which lads no older than himself had
performed at such critical times. Perhaps within his soul there burned a
desire to outshine these heroes of fact and fiction; and do something to
make the name of Tyrus Collins go ringing down the ages, on the annals
of heroes who have risked their lives in order to save others.
At any rate, as soon as he had emptied the bucket he was holding, he
passed it along to the nearest woman, and then whirled upon the little
girl.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked.
She turned to him eagerly.
"Oh, he'll be burned, my little baby, Bennie!" she wailed, wringing her
hands as if in the greatest woe.
Ty was thrilled by the words. Here then was the golden opportunity he
had long sought. A baby, she had said, forgotten in the mad rush and
excitement. And to him had come the chance to show of what metal scouts
were made.
"Where is he--show me the window of the room!" he demanded in such a
stern tone that the child shrank back; but she managed to point upward
and say:
"That window--it's the little room over the front hall! Oh, if you could
only bring him out, mister; everybody's too busy to remember poor little
Bennie!"
That finished Ty. He heard the call to duty and was off. Still, he kept
his wits about him fairly well, and did not plunge recklessly into the
building.
His first act was to take another look upward, so that he might locate
the window she had mentioned, and remember which it was when groping
about the interior. Elmer was close by; but although he turned toward
the patrol leader at first, Ty changed his mind, fearing that he might
be interfered with in his bold designs.
No, if a rescue must be made, he would go it alone; and hence all the
glory that was coming would be his.
"Here, take that full bucket and follow me, Ty!" called Elmer, who saw a
chance to deluge a threatened point in such a way that the fire would be
fully beaten back in that quarter.
He supposed the other was carrying out his suggestion, and did not know
any different until on turning he found himself face to face with Landy,
who had quickly taken the place of the one called upon.
"Where's Ty?" asked Elmer, as upon looking around he failed to discover
the figure of his late assistant.
"He's gone in!" declared Landy, seeming to be a little appalled by
something he had witnessed.
"Gone in where?" continued the other, hardly understanding what was
meant.
"He rushed right into the house like he'd lost his senses, Elmer;
whatever do you think made him act like that?" Landy replied.
The patrol leader looked aghast.
"I'm sure I don't know," he replied, "unless he heard that some one was
in there, and might be smothered or burned. But it was a nervy thing for
Ty to do. I only hope he comes out again all right!"