FIRE!

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19663, 24 August 1935, Page 16 (Supplement)

FIRE!

Betty Wemyss eat up in bed and sniffed Into the darkness. “ Burning 1" she said, and sniffed i again. j Then she shook the other occupant j of the bed. "Joan!” she cried, “there’s a smell of burning!" .Toan Travers, her chum, sat up. “Whatever Is the matter, Betty?” she asked dolefully. “I was just managing to get a wink, after lying awake all night.” “ Rot!" exclaimed Betty. “Can’t you smell it?” "Smell what?” Joan asked indignantly. “You’re always smelling things that aren’t there. I wish you hadn’t got such an awful nose.” Then she stuck her own in the air. “ Gosh!” she exclaimed. "There is a smell of burning!” Betty, meanwhile, had scrambled out of bed, and was putting on her dres-sing-gown and slippers. “B-r-r-r, It’s cold!” she said “Come on, Joan, perhaps the house is on Are I" She opened the bedroom door and went on to the landing. Joan followed her with chattering teeth. “It doesn’t smell as strong out here." I declared Betty. “All the same, we’d better go down. Have you got your torch?" Joan had: together the two girls made their way downstairs, sniffing as they went. ’ I They wero alone in the house ex- I cept for the cook, who slept some dis- ■ tance from their own bedroom, along a passage, and over the kitchen. Betty’s parents had gone to London tho day before for a few days, and Joan had come to keep her com- . pony during their absence. j They had felt a little nervous last; evening, although neither of them would admit it,. They had carefully j examined the windows, and locked the j doors on the inside. Joan had even insisted on taking the keys to bed with her, although Betty had expostulated, j It was an, eerie business, creeping down the stairs at one o’clock on a November morning. . Joan had the keys In the pocket of her dressing-gown. They looked into each room. All was well. Even the grate In the kitchen was black and cold. “Perhaps cook went to sleep with a candle alight in her room, or some fool thing,” suggested Betty. "We’d better see." They couldn’t make the cook hear—she was snoring too loudly—so they softly opened the door of her room and looked In. There was no sign of Are there. Only a fat red-faoed woman lying on her back with her mouth wide open, emitting loud blasts which seemed to shake tiie bed. They went back to their own room, The smell of smoke was stronger there, and they examined every corner and crevico. “ It’s coming through the window, Joan!” exclaimed Betty. “Come and smell 1" It was. A strong pungent smell of burning wood was wafted in through the open window, and as they looked, a faint glow showed in the darkness over where the village stood, a quarter of a mile away. Hastily the girls scrambled Into 6kirts, stockings, rubber boots, and thick overcoats, and ran downstairs once more. They unbolted the front door and hurried out Into the night. They soon came to the fire. It was a cottage, standing the first of a row of eight. It had a thatched roof, and the Aarnes had caught the thatch at one side. It was beginning to blaze goon iho whole roof would be alight. All the village round lay in darkness and silence, except for the patch of light occasioned by the names. “Wo must get Mr and Mrs Hope out Arst!" cried Betty. “I’ll do that, .loan. You wako up all the other people. The wind will carry the sparks to the other houses. Get someone to go and phone for the flre-engine. Ask the others to come and help drag the Hope’s furniture out. Buck up! As soon as you’ve done that go back to our house and wake cook, or else light ilie Are yourself. Put a kettle on, and nil the hot-water bottles. The Hopes must go Into our bed, and we must go into Daddy’s and Mummy’s room.” Joan ran on, and *Betty tore up the

(By Jean Callender.)

cottage path and hammered on the door. “Fire! Fire!” she called at the top of her voice. After what seemed an age, a white- 1 capped head appeared at one of the little upstairs windows. “Eh?” said a voice slowly. "Your house is on Are,” cried Betty “Let me in.” “ Be ut?” said the voice, and the head disappeared. “Oh dearl” exclaimed Betty in desperation. "He’H be hours before he comes, If he ever does.” She went to the side of the house under the window and tested • the creeper. It was ivy and the stems were fairly thick. She took off her boots and began to climb. It was very difficult to get a foothold, and twice she fell, but not far, and she was not hurt. At last she reached the window. It was securely shut. Hanging on with one hand, she wrapped the other in the skirt of her coat and smashed the glass. She was small and light, and able to squeeze through the empty windowframe. She found herself in a tiny room which was almost completely filled by An enormous four-post bed with dingy hangings. Sitting up in it and regarding her with mild surprise was an old man and woman. Each wore a nightcap, and they blinked as she fiashed her torch in their faces. “What du’e want?” the old man asked in a quavering voice. Betty shook him. “Get up!” she cried. “Get up, both of you! The house Is on Are!" “ Wot, us get up now?” he asked bewildered. "Yes, yes, now,” she shouted. “Get up and come with me." “Where he goin’ tu?” he asked. Exasperated, Betty seized him and dragged him from the bed. She espied a heap of clothes on a chair. “Put them on," she ordered, as she Aung them at him. Then she turned her back on him and proceeded to get the old woman out of bed and help her to dress. There came a knocking on the door below. She ran down the rickety stairs and unfastened It. A group of men and boys stood there. “•Has someone sent for the fireengine ?’’ she asked. "Yes," came the answer from one of them. “Willie Greaves went on his motor-bike. He can drive baok with ’em and show ’em the way." “I’m getting the old people up,” she told them. “Will you start taking the furniture out?”

They began to drag out everything they could lay hands on. She went upstairs again. The old oouple were nearly dressed. She Aung the 'blankets round them, and they stood at the top ■of the stairs, looking dazed as they watched their treasures being dragged out of doors.

Betty knew there was no time to waste.

(To be continued next week.)