"Look behind you!" screamed the boy who had first discovered the fire. He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, and the firemen, whirling around, saw a little tongue of flame shooting determinedly up. It had run along underneath the shingles and hopped at the first chance it could get. So the buckets of water had to keep on flying up, to come down and be filled. Up and down, up and down, till Polly sank on the gra.s.s, unable to bear it another bit longer. "Oh, if I weren"t a girl," she moaned pa.s.sionately, "then I could be up there, and I know I"d save the little brown house. Oh, Mamsie! Mamsie!"
"Don"t fret, Polly," said a good woman living in the village,--for by this time a long procession of men, women, and children had hurried in, crowding and jamming into the yard,--"ef it burns down, you shall all come to our house an" stay a spell, till you get another one."
"Don"t," cried Polly, pa.s.sionately, and shrinking off; "we can"t live, if the little brown house goes. Oh, Mamsie! Mamsie!" and she sobbed as if her heart would break, and covered her face with her hands.
"Don"t cry, Polly," and Phronsie"s little hand crept softly up to her neck. But Polly couldn"t stop. If there had been anything for her to do, she would have kept up, but to sit there and see the little brown house burn up, and know because she was a girl there was no place for her on the roof--why, there she was, sobbing as if her heart would break, and Phronsie clinging piteously to her neck.
A ringing shout struck upon her ear. "It"s coming!" shivered Polly; "the roof"s tumbling in!" and she hid her face lower yet.
Wouldn"t G.o.d stop the dreadful fire ever yet. He must, for Mamsie said He loved to help all His children. And--
"Hooray, Polly!" called Joel in her ear, putting a very black face up close to her pale one. "Don"t you understand? It"s all out. It is, truly, this time, every single squinchin" bit."
But Polly didn"t understand, and they laid her back on the gra.s.s, and one woman said, "Get a pamleaf fan," and another cried, "Get th" water in that pail there," pointing to one not used, on the gra.s.s. And everybody got in everybody else"s way, and crowded around her, and the water was dashed over her face till she was in a little pool of it, and still she didn"t open her eyes. And Phronsie wailed and clung to her, getting as wet, so a thin woman remarked, "as a drownded rat," and David was on the other side, nearly as bad. As for Joel, he rushed up and down, completely gone with fright. After all his brave fight, to have Polly give out was something so very dreadful he couldn"t think of it.
"Here comes Mrs. Pepper," said somebody, and, "Thank the Lord,"
said another, and down the road in the doctor"s gig, the little doctor driving like mad, came Mamsie. They helped her out, and she was in the yard, never looking at the little brown house; for her black eyes were searching among the crowd, and her white lips tried to frame some words.
"All safe, Marm," sang out the big redheaded man; "and you"ve got some smart chaps," thinking he"d give all the comfort, and at once, that was in his power.
"Polly ain"t just well," spoke up somebody, sympathetically, and in a minute Mamsie was down on the gra.s.s, with Polly"s head in her lap, the other children swarming around her, and Dr. Fisher in the midst.
"Oh, I"m so ashamed," gasped Polly, coming to, and hiding her face on Mrs. Pepper"s breast.
"Don"t you feel badly, Polly child," said Mamsie, smoothing her brown hair gently; "you"re all tired out. The little brown house is all safe--just think of that!"
Polly thrust up her head and took one look. "Mamsie," she whispered, holding to Mrs. Pepper"s neck convulsively, "G.o.d did stop the dreadful fire, didn"t He?"
"He surely did," said Mrs. Pepper, looking around on all her little group. The neighbors and townspeople, the firemen and the crowd, stole silently off and left them there, but Dr. Fisher stayed.
Suddenly Joel was missing. "Where is he?" asked Mrs. Pepper, a fresh alarm gathering on her face.
"P"r"aps he"s gone with the engine," piped up the boy who had discovered the fire, and who seemed to think it his duty to watch that it didn"t break out again.
"Oh, no, Joel wouldn"t do that," said Mrs. Pepper.
"I"ll find him," said little Dr. Fisher, who had his own views about Joel, after closely regarding his singed eyebrows and black face; "lucky enough if he doesn"t need considerable patching up," he muttered to himself, as he strode off to reconnoitre.
"There"s no use in your hiding," he said aloud, as if talking to some one. "So you might as well come out at once, and let me know where you"re hurt, Joe, and I"ll fix you before your mother sees you."
"I ain"t hurt," said a voice from the lilac bushes.
"Oh, you are not?" said the little doctor, opening the bushes to peer within, his spectacles setting well down on the end of his nose, so that he looked over them. "That"s good," and he soon had Joel out. "Now then, I"ll fix you up as good as ever," and he rummaged his ample pockets for the things he had thrust into them for this very work.
"I ain"t hurt," said Joel, wriggling furiously.
"Stand still, Joe," said the little doctor, coolly, "for I"m going to patch you up, so that you"re decent to see your mother.
Aren"t you ashamed to get this way when Polly, poor brave girl, has been so sick? Why, what"s the matter with you!" suddenly giving Joel a whirl, so that he could look in his face.
Joel"s face was working frightfully. "I "most--burnt--the little brown house--up," he gasped. "I made a fire in--the stove!"
XXV
JOEL SELLS SHOES FOR MR. BEEBE
The little doctor kept a firm hold on Joel"s jacket, and gazed keenly into his face. "Um!" he said.
"I wanted--to--to--help Polly," gasped Joel. "O dear me!" He was a sight to behold, as the tears washed their way down the grimy face, which was still working fearfully, as he tried to hold in his sobs.
"So you thought you"d help Polly," said Dr. Fisher, kindly; "was that it, Joel?"
"Yes," said Joel; "she"d put the putty in, and put it in----and----"
"Put the putty in?" repeated the little doctor, aghast.
"Yes, or Ben had."
"I never in all my life heard of burning putty in a stove," said Dr. Fisher, helplessly, and setting his big spectacles again, as if that might possibly a.s.sist him to understand.
"Oh, she didn"t burn it," cried Joel, just as much astonished.
"Well, what did she do with it, then?" demanded Dr. Fisher.
"Dear me, I always supposed a stove was meant to burn things in," and he waved his head helplessly, and regarded Joel with a fixed stare.
"She stuck the putty in the holes," said Joel, very distinctly; "don"t you understand? Polly"s stove is very old, and it"s cracked, and she says the air comes in and then the fire goes down, so she has to stuff up all the mean old cracks. O dear me, I wanted to help her," and off Joel went in another gust of tears.
"I suppose Polly feels badly over her stove, sometimes,"
reflected Dr. Fisher, casting a very sharp glance on Joel. "I really wonder if she does," he added carelessly.
"Feels badly!" exploded Joel. Then he took a good long look around on all sides, and leaned over to whisper in the little doctor"s ear, "_She cries sometimes, Polly does_."
"No!" exclaimed Dr. Fisher.
"Yes, she does," declared Joel, shaking his stubby head decidedly. "She cries dreadfully when Mamsie isn"t looking. And she didn"t know that I saw her, either, only I peeked behind the pantry door. And I wanted to--to--help her." He began to cry afresh at the recollection.
"Joel," said Dr. Fisher, getting up suddenly, "you"ve got to tell your mother how the little brown house got on fire."
"I know it," said Joel, but his head drooped, and his eyes fell.
"And the best way to right the wrong is to own up at once," said the little doctor. "I suppose she"s taught you that, eh, Joel?"
"Yes, sir," said Joel.
"Well, when you"ve got such a mother as you have, Joel,"
continued Dr. Fisher, "you better treat her as well as you know how. So run along, and be quick with you," and Dr. Fisher gave him a resounding clap on the shoulder, that sent Joe flying off like a shot from a gun, while the little doctor stole off the back way, and got into his gig, and drove off as fast as he could, and thus escaped being thanked.