And feet were heard on the steps of the belfry-tower; and hands began
pulling vigorously at the ropes, and in a moment, for the first time,
the deep tones of the long silent bell pealed heavily on the midnight
air. They awoke the city. In a short time, fire-engines were on the
way. Streams of water played on the flames, and quenched them; and the
children and the Orphan-house were saved.
The next morning all was silent again, as if nothing had happened; the
outhouse lay in ashes, but the Orphan-house was uninjured. At eight
the Clock-bell called the children to their morning prayer; whilst the
Alarm-bell had relapsed into silence, perhaps for another century.
But the Clock-bell said—"You have done in an hour the service of a
century. Had it not been for you, I should never have struck another
hour."
And the grateful children often looked up as they passed beneath,
and said—"Had it not been for our good Alarm-bell, we might all have
perished!"
So the Alarm-bell learned what it was made for; and was content to wait
another hundred years, or more, before its voice was heard again.