The Clang of the Fire Bell
The hall continued to fill up, until there was standing room only by
the time the performance began. The boys were interested in the
people around them, for Ralph was able to relate certain things of
interest connected with some of those he pointed out.
All at once Tubby exclaimed:
“Well, we made a big mistake, after all, about him!”
“Who are you referring to, Tubby?” asked Sim, who sat next the fat
scout.
“Why, just turn your head this way, and glance over yonder near the
door among the latecomers. Strike you that you know anybody in that
bunch?” chuckled Tubby.
“Say, it is Peleg, after all!” admitted Sim. “I was dead sure the
circus would do for him, and here he bobs up at the concert. Do you
suppose it’s because we just happened to be coming here, and he knew
it, Ralph?”
Ralph and Rob had discovered the farm boy by then.
“Oh! I don’t know about that,” said the former, looking both
surprised and puzzled. “I believe I’ve heard Peleg say more than
once he liked music, and singing especially. That was when he told
me one of his little sisters could warble like a bird, and some day
she might show people the Pinders weren’t such good-for-nothing
trash, after all. That’s what has been worrying Peleg all along, the
way folks looked down on his father and the children after the
mother died, years ago.”
“Well, he looks as if he was glad to even find standing room
tonight,” suggested Andy. “You can see a regular grin on his face
away from over here. Peleg certainly seems happier than I’ve known
him to be since we first met him. It doesn’t require much to please
some fellows, I take it.”
Rob looked at Ralph, and found the other observing him intently.
Both of them were wondering whether the visit Peleg had made to the
old curio dealer could account for that broad smile on his face.
Indeed, an observer, if he had been a boy, would have said that
Peleg every once in so often looked as though he wanted to “shake
hands with himself,” he felt so happy.
The announcement that the entertainment was about to commence drew
the attention of the five lads from Peleg Pinder. When Tubby
happened to glance in that quarter again later on, he could not
place the other, for, the rear of the hall being densely packed with
the late-comers, it was difficult to make out any individual person.
There were some ordinary numbers at first, a fair quartette that
provoked a certain amount of applause, then a banjo solo that quite
excited Tubby, who secretly aspired to some day to play such a
splendid instrument.
After that some other exercises came along, but it was evident that
the audience as a whole was waiting for the crowning event of the
evening.
“Now she’s coming, so get ready, fellows!” said Andy Bowles,
referring to his programme.
There was a little wait. Ralph craned his neck, looking around to
nod to a number of people he knew; but Rob really believed the other
was thinking of Peleg more than anything else just then. To prove
this he whispered:
“Don’t see anything of him, do you, Ralph?”
“That’s a fact,” came the ready reply; “he’s lost in the shuffle,
for there’s a big mob back there, pushing to get inside the hall in
time to hear Anna Burgoyne. I tell you she’s getting folks up in
this neck of the woods excited a heap. But you just wait and see,
that’s all.”
Then there broke out a wild hand-clapping and stamping of feet. Rob
saw a demure little girl standing there, blushing and bowing as she
faced the big audience.
“Why, she’s hardly more than a child!” gasped Tubby, as the noise
gradually died away, with the singer standing there wholly at her
ease.
“Well, she isn’t thirteen yet,” admitted Ralph, “which makes it all
the more wonderful. Oh! she’s a nightingale, all right, believe me.
I think she’s got the sweetest and strongest voice of any one I ever
heard, and, let me tell you, I’ve been down to New York and attended
more than a few first class concerts, too.”
Silence fell upon the crowd. Every eye was fastened on the demure
little figure of Anna Burgoyne. Every one almost in that big hall
had heard her sing time and again, but it seemed as though they
could never get enough of her wonderful voice. Most of them believed
like Ralph, that some fine day little Anna was bound to put Wyoming
on the map through the marvelous voice Nature had given her. Already
some of the rich men of the town had settled it among themselves
that later on she must be sent to Europe, when the dreadful war was
over, in order to have the highest artists of the Old World train
her voice. Nothing was to be too good for Anna Burgoyne. Already
they could in imagination see her charming the world of music
lovers, and incidentally making the little Adirondack town of
Wyoming known far and wide.
Rob understood that the child did have a most wonderful voice as
soon as he heard her commence to sing. He, too, was thrilled with
the purity of her tones as well as by their sweetness and power. Of
course, he knew that she was almost wholly untrained, but in time,
unless something happened to injure her vocal chords, she would very
likely fulfill all the predictions of her admiring Wyoming friends.
A storm of applause followed the completion of her selection, in
which all of the boys heartily joined. Then came another song, and
still a third. It seemed as if the audience had gone crazy over that
mite of a girl, and would insist on her complying with their demands
until she could no longer sing a note.
Finally, as the only way to still the tempest, the manager of the
entertainment appeared on the stage to tell the cheering people that
Anna Burgoyne would oblige them once more later on in the evening,
since they would find her name there for further efforts.
“Well, what do you think now?” asked Ralph, glowing with pride over
the achievement of the town pet.
“She’s bound to make a name for herself, all right,” admitted Rob.
“I never heard anything like it,” said Tubby, looking so pleased
that his cheeks stuck out like twin rosy apples. “Why, I could sit
for hours and hear that girl sing. She’s certainly a wonder, Ralph.”
“I don’t see how they can bear to let her go away to Europe,”
observed Andy, whom Rob had actually seen slily wipe his eyes with
the back of his hand while the singer was in the midst of a pathetic
little ballad.
“Say, just listen to that wind making things hum outside, will you?”
practical Sim was saying about that time. “I do believe it’s growing
worse right along. I hope it doesn’t blow us into a ditch when we’re
heading for home. That old carryall of yours is big enough to catch
the wind full smack, Ralph.”
“Don’t worry about that, Sim,” retorted the other. “I’ve been in all
sorts of weather with that auto, and she stands up before it like
everything. Chances are five to one we’ll get back home safe and
sound. I only hope you will all feel that it’s paid you to come in
with me.”
“Oh! that goes without saying, Ralph. We’ve had a bully time
already; and there’s going to be more of that singing, you know,”
Tubby assured him. “There’s Peleg now, sitting up on that railing
back of the hall, along with some other fellows. Not a bad place to
be in, because no tall woman with a head of hair as big as a bushel
basket can intercept your view of the stage.”
Tubby had the wisdom to lower his voice to a whisper while saying
the latter part of this, because the lady to whom he evidently
referred was apt to hear him unless he exercised great care; and one
glimpse Tubby had had of her determined face had made him decide
that he had better not excite her ire if he knew what was good for
his health.
Rob looked and could also see Peleg. The Pinder boy seemed to be
enjoying his evening at the entertainment hugely, for his face was
still wreathed in smiles. Apparently his trip to town had been of a
satisfactory nature, Rob thought.
The second half of the affair now started in, and once more the
audience listened to what the programme provided. Though they
applauded everything, it could easily be seen that they knew just
when to stop in order not to induce any of the other local
performers to believe the hand-clapping was meant as an encore.
Finally there was Anna Burgoyne again, bowing, while a storm of
sounds arose so that for several minutes she was utterly unable to
proceed. When this had gone on long enough, according to the
manager, he must have made some motion which the girl had been
awaiting.
The lady at the piano struck a chord, and as if by magic all that
hand-clapping and stamping ceased. The change was simply marvelous,
and, save for the clear notes of the instrument, and perhaps the
rattling of a few windows under the influence of the unruly wind,
silence had fallen upon the big hall.
Then the girl commenced to sing again. Rob liked her voice better
than ever, now that he heard it under different conditions. He was
glad he had been asked to come to town by Ralph; glad of the
opportunity to hear such splendid music, and find himself face to
face with such a little song witch.
Hardly had the last note died away than they gave her a whirlwind of
approbation. Why, the very floor seemed to quiver under the thunder
of sound; and all intended to inform that slender slip of a girl how
much they thought of her vocal efforts. Surely there was only one
Anna Burgoyne, and she belonged to Wyoming in the Adirondacks.
Then, in time, they allowed her to sing to them again. If anything,
this last song won their hearts more than all that had gone before.
A third time she had to come from behind the scenes, for they would
not allow the programme to proceed. This time she bowed, and smiled,
and shook her head; but the same tumult broke out after she had
gone.
“They act as though they could almost eat her up!” Tubby was saying,
laughingly, all the while pounding his fat palms together, and
making considerable addition to the general din.
After this had gone on for some time without any apparent sign of a
break, once more the girl appeared, looking flushed and happy. She
shook her head, and held up her hands as if to beg them to have
mercy on her. In spite of all, Rob believed she would be obliged to
sing just once more, though he knew she must be tired from her
exertions.
Something came about that changed things almost in a breath,
something that caused the crowd gathered there to think of other
things besides music and promising girl singer with a grand future
before her.
Rob felt a sudden thrill pass through him as he caught a brazen note
just when the tumult in the hall had died away, and the lady at the
piano was beginning to strike up an accompaniment.
“Is that the fire alarm bell?” he asked Ralph, hastily.
“Yes, that’s what!” exclaimed the other.
The sound must have struck a note of alarm at many hearts in that
gathering, for they could easily guess how a fire, with such a gale
blowing, might imperil the whole town. Men could be seen jumping
hastily from their seats, possibly some of them volunteer firemen,
whose duty called them to leave their beds or the banquet hall when
the call came, regardless of conditions or circumstances.
Their pushing through the crowd at the door was the signal for a
rush; and in the excitement of that moment even the popular little
Anna Burgoyne was temporarily forgotten in the desire to get outside
the hall.