Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Red Cloud chief. (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1906)
) t : v ( .vrv v7 DQ ..STOCKINGS.. Burson Hose, the only stocking without a seam. Made to lit at the ankle and NOT pressed i o shape. Stockings with extra large tops for fleshy ladies. The Two Vanrevels By BOOTH TARKINGTON, Author of "The Gentleman From Indlnna" and "Monsieur Dcaucilre" Copyrltflit, 1002, by S. S. McClure Co. 0 0 -- '&r- s t (OONTIMt'KI).) Tliiit It was her father's properly "Whu'li win Imperiled attested to the Justification of MNf Hetty In running to n tire, ami its she followed the crowd Into Miiln .street p1i felt it not unpleas ant proprietary Interest In the spec 1aele. Very opposite sensations ani mated the breast of the man with the trumpet, who was more acutely con reioiis than any other that these were Robert Carewe's possessions which were burning so handsomely. Nor was lie the only one among the firemen who ground his teeth over the folly of the iir. f rnw, for now they could plainly t H'e the ruin being wrought, tlie dev-j natation threatened. The two upper Htorles of tho southernmost warehouse! had swathed themselves In one great Ihime, tho building next on the north, ulso of frame, was smoking heavily, and there was a wind from the south west which, continuing with the tiro tuirheoked, threatened the town itself. Thoro was work for the volunteer brl "gade hat night. F Tfiey came down Main street with tl rush, the figure of their chief swaying over them on his high perch, whllo their shouting was drowned lu the louder roar of greeting from the crowd Into which tney plunged as n diver Into the water, swirls nnd eddies of people m.i iking tho wake. A moment later a flection of the roof of the burning ware house fell In with u sonorous and rever berating crash. i The engine company ran tlie forco pump out to tho end of one of tho low er wharfs, two Hues of pipe were at tached, two rows of men mounted tho planks for the pumpers nnd at the word of command began the up and down of the hund machine with admirable vim. Nothing happened; the water did not come; something appeared to be wrong with the mechanism. As every one felt the crucial need of haste, nothing could .have been more natural than that all Uhe members of the engine company should simultaneously endeavor to re pair the defect. Therefore ensued up on the spot a species of riot which put the engine out of Its sphero of usefuj- tOSS. Tn ihe meantime fifty or sixty men .and hoys who ran with tho machines, hut who had uo place In their opera tion, being the bucket brigade, had formed a Hue and were throwing largo pails of wuter In tho general direction of the southernmost warehouse, which it was now Impossible to save, whllo the gentlemen of the hook and ladder company, abandoning their wagons and armed with axes, heroically as saulted tho big door of the granary, the second building, whence they 'wero driven by the oxusperuted chief, who informed them that the only way to save the wheat was to save tho build ing. Crailey Gray, one of the berated axmen, remnJncd by the shattered door .after the others had gone and, struck by a sudden thought, set his hand up ou the Iron Intch and opened the door by this simple process. It was not locked. Crailey leaned against tho caieuent and laughed with his whole soul and body. Meanwhile, by dint of shouting in men's ears when near them, through the trumpet when distant, tearing axes from their hands, Imperiously gesticu lating to subordinate commanders and lingering In no one spot for more than u second, Mr. Vaurevel reduced his forces to a semblance of order In a re markably short time, considering the confusion Into which they had fallen. Tho space between the burning ware house and that next It was not tnoro than fifty feet lu width, hut fifty feet t,o hot no one took thought of entering there, an area as discomfiting In ap pearance us It wua beautiful with tho thick ralu of sparks and firebrands that fell upon It. But the chief had decided Unit this space must be occu- pled and, more, must be held, slnco It was the only point of defense for tho second warehouse. The roof of this building would burn, which would mean the destruction of the warehouse, unless It could he mounted, becauso the streams of water could not play upon It from the grouud nor from tho ludders do much more than wet tho projecting eaves. It was u gablo roof, tho eaves twenty feet lower on tho south side than on tho north, whero tho ladders could not hope to reach. Van revel swung his Hue of bucketccrs round to throw water not upon the Haines, but upon tlie ludder men. Miss Carowo stood la tlie crowd upon tho opposite aide of the broad street. Even there her cheeks were uncom fortably hot, and sometimes she had to brush a spark from her shoulder, fo lt'U. Bho. was tQQ much QXcltfitL W mind this. She was watching the beau tiful llcry furnace between the north wall of the burning warehouse and tho south wall of Its neighbor, the fifty feet brilliant and misty with vaporous rose color, dotted with the myriad red stars, her eyes shining with the reflection. of their tierce beauty. She saw how tho vapors moved there, like men walking In lire, and she was vaguely recalling Shndrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, when over the silhouetted heads of tho crowd before her a long black ladder rose, wabbled, tilted ernzlly, then lame ly advanced and ranged itself against tho south wall of the second ware- house, Its top rung striking ten feet short of the eaves. She hoped that uo one had any uotlou of mounting that ladder. A figuro appeared upon It Immediate ly, that of n gentleman, bnrohcndod and in evening dress, with u brass trumpet swinging from u cord about his shoulders. Tho nolso grew less, tho shouting died away, and tho crowd bc- came almost silent as tho figure, climb Ing slowly, drew up above their heads. Two or throe rungs beneath came n second, a man In helmet and uniform. The clothes of both men, drenched by tho buckcteors, clung to them, steam ing. As the second figure mounted a third appeared, but this was the last, for the ladder was frail and sagged to ward the smoking wall with the weight of the three. The chief, three-fourths of the way to the top, shouted down a stifled com mand, and a short grappling ladder, fitted nt one end with n pair of spiked Iron hooks, was passed to him. Then ho tolled upward until his feet rested on the third rung from tho top. Here ho turned, setting his back to the wall, lifted tlie grappling ladder high over bis head so that It rested against the eaves above him und brought It down ihnrply, fastening the spiked hooks In tho roof. As the caves projected fully three feet, tills left tho grappling lad der hanging that distance out from tho wall, Its lowest rung a little above tho level of the chief's shoulders. Miss Betty drew In her breath with a little choked cry. There was a small terraced hill of piled up packing boxes near her, possession of which had been taken by a company of raggamullinlsh boys, and she found herself standing on the highest box nnd sharing the sum mit with these.questlonable youths, al most without noting her action lu mounting thither, so strained was the concentration of her attention upon the figure high up In the rose glow against the warehouse wall. The man, surely, surely, was not going to trust himself to that bit of wooden web hanging from the roof I Where was Miss Ba- reaud that she permitted It? Ah, If Betty had been Fauehon, aud mad wo man enough to have accepted this mad ninn, she would have compelled him to come down nt once, and thereafter would lock him up lu the house when ever tho bells rang! But the roof was to bo mounted or Robert Carewe's property lost. Al ready little tlames were dancing up from the shingles, where firebrands had fallen, their number Increasing with each second. So Vaurevel raised his arms, took a hard grip upon the lowest rung of the grappling ladder nnd tried It with his weight. The iron hooks bit deeper Into the roof; they held. He swung himself out luto the air, with nothing beneath him, caught tlie" rung under his knee, and for a mo ment hung there, while tho crowd with held from breathing. Then a cloud of smoke swirling thnt way made him the mere ghostly nucleus of Itself, blotted him out altogether, nnd, as It rose slow ly upward, showed tho ladder free and empty, so that at first thcro was an In stant when they thought that ho hnd fallen, but, as tho smoke eleared, there was the tall figure on the roof. It was an agile und a daring tiling to do, and tho man who did It was might ily applauded. The cheering bothered him, however, for he was trying to make them understand below what would happen to the engine company In caso the water was not sent through tho lines directly, and what he said should be done to the engineers Includ ed things that would have blanched tho cheek of the most Inventive Spanish In qulsjtor that ever lived. Miss Betty made a gesture as If to a person within whispering distance, "Your coat is on fire," she said in an ordinary conversational tono without knowing she had Bpoken aloud, and Mr. Vaurevel, more than a hundred feet away, seemed particularly cou sclous of the pertinence of her remnrkl He removed the garment with alacrity, and for the lack of tho tardy water began to use jt as ajlail upon the Jlre- Embroideries For which we are Headquarters i inch wide. 3c yard. 2A inches wide, 5c yard. 3 inches wide, 8c yard. 5 inches wide, 10c yard. Other widths at equally low prices. Fancy Lace and Embroidered Stockings in the very latest designs. NEWHOUSI, Dry Goods, Laces, mmm w i tmmtttmutaflll i brands and little flanst" !l .1 hui. the sheer desperate be.t of a mitii ul ! rage doing what Ik4 could when other failed him. Showers cf sp'trks fel' upon him. The smoke was rising ev erywhere from the roof and the wall below nnd, growing deliver and denser, shrouded him in heavy veils, ho that us he ran hither nnd thither, now visible. now unseen, stamping and beating and sweeping away the brands that fell, he seemed but the red and ghostly carlca ture of a Xerxes Ineffectually lashing the sea. They were calling to him im ploringly to come dowu, lu heaven's name to come down! The second mnn had followed to tho top of the ladder against the wall, and I there he paused, waiting to pass up the Hue of hose when the word should come j that the forco pump had been repaired, : but tlie people thought that he waited I because he was afraid to trust himself 11 swung himself out Into the air to Mq grappling ladder. He was afraid, exceedingly afraid, though thnt was not why ho waited, nnd ho was still chuc kling over the assault of the axes. Ills situation had not much the ad vantage of that of tho chief, nis red shirt might have been set with orange Jewels, so studded it was with the fly ing sparks, and, a large brund drop ping upon his helmet, he threw up his hand to dislodge It and lost the helmet. The great light fell upon his fair hair and smiling fuce, nnd It wus then that Miss Betty recognized tho lncroynblc of her garden. CHAPTER VI. T was an Investigating negro child of tender years who, possessed of a petty sense of causo nnd effect, brought an Illuminative simplicity to bear upon the problem of the forco pump, nnd n multitudinous agitation greeted his dis covery that the engineers had forgot ten to connect their pipes with tho river. This nafro omission was fatal to the Becond warehouse. Tho wall burst into flame below Crailey Gray, who clung to the top of tho ludder, choking, Btlfled nnd dizzily lighting the sparks that cov ered him, yet still clutching tho nozzlo of the hose ljnojhey had passed to him. Some Bargains In Stockings Infants' Stockings at 10, 15 and 25c. Misses' Stockings at 10, 1 2 A, 15 and 18c. A fine, dressy stocking at 25c. Boys' Stockings at 10, 15 and 18c. "No Mend" Stockings, with extra linen knee, at 25c. Wheil Un! slreum at lasC leuped forth, making tho nozzle fight In his grasp, ho selll It straight tip into tho air and let the cataract fall hack upon himself and upon the two men beneath him on the ladder. There came a moment of blessed re lief, and he looked out over the broad rosy blur of faces In tho street, whero no one wondered more than he how tho water was to reach the roof. Suddenly he started, wiped his eyes with hla wet sleeve nnd peered intently down from under the shading arm. Ills roving glance crossed tho smoke nnd flnmo to rest upon n tall, white figuro that stood full length above the heads of tho peo ple upon a pedestal wrought with tho grotesque Images of boys; a girl's fig ure, still as noon, enrnpt, like the statuo of some young goddess for whom wero mnde these sacrificial pyres. Mr. Gray recognized his opportunity. A blackened and unrecognizable faco peered down from tho caves, and tho voice belonging to It snld angrily: "Why didn't they send up that lino before they put tho wuter through It?" "Never mind, Tom," answered Crai ley cheerfully, "I'll bring it up." "You can't. I'll come down for It. Don't be every kind of n fool!" "You want a monopoly, do you?" And Crailey, calling to Tappingham Mnrsh, next below him, to come high er, left tho writhing nozzle In the hit tor's possession, swung himself out up on the grappling ladder, Imitating the chief's gymnnstlcs, nnd immediately, one hand grasping the second rung, ono knee crooked over the lowest, leaned head down and took the nozzle from Mnrsh. It was a heavy weight, and, though Marsh supported the line be neath It, the great stream hurtling forth made It a dltllcult thing to mnn ngo, for it wriggled, recoiled and strug gled as If It had been alive. Crailey made three attempts to draw himself up, but the strain was too much for his grip, aud on the third attempt his fin gers melted from the rung, and he swung down fearfully, hanging by his knee, but still clinging to tlie nozzle. "Give It up, Crailey. It Isn't worth It," Vaurevel called from overhead, not during tho weight of both on the light grappling Indder. But though Crailey cared no more for the saving of Robert Carewe's property than for a butterfly's wing in China, he could not glvo up now, any more than as n lad ho could have forborne to turn somersaults when tlie prettiest little girl looked out of the schoolhouse win dow. Ho passed the nozzle to Tapping ham, caught the second rung with his left hand, and, once moro dangling head downward, seized the nozzle; then, with his kneo hooked tight, as tlie gushing water described a huge semi clrclo upon tlie smoke and hot vapor, he made a mad lurch through tho air, while women shrieked, hut ho Inndcd upright, half sitting on tho lowest rung. He climbed the grappling ladder swift ly, In splto of tho weight and contor tions of tho unmanageable be,ast he car ried with him. Tom leaned far down nnd took It from him, nnd Crailey, pass ing the eaves, fell exhausted upon the roof, Just ns ho reached this tempo rary security a Indy was borne, faint ing, out of tho acclaiming crowd. Fan chon was thore. Word had been passed to tho gentle men of tlie engine company to shut off the water. In order. tQiiUow. the lino to ... ........ India Linons Worth more, but sell at following prices: 27 inches wide, 8c yard. 52-inches wide, 12AC yard. 36 inches wide, 15c yard. 40 inches wide, 20c, 25c. Long Cloth at 15c yard. Nainsook at 20c yard. lie enrrfed up the ladder, and they re ceived the command nt tho moment Tom lifted the nozzle, so thnt tho stream dried up In his hands. .Tills was the last straw, aud the blackened, singed nnd scarred chief, setting tho trumpet to his lips, gave himself en tirely to wrath. It struck Crailey, even as ho lay coughing nnd weeping with smoke, thnt thoro wus something splendid nnd large In tho other's rage. Vanrevel was or dinarily so steady nnd cool that this was worth seeing, this berserker ges turo; worth hearing, this wonderful profanity, llko Washington's ono fit of cursing, nnd Crailey, knowing Tom, knew, too, that It had not come upon him becauso Carowo had a daughter Into whose eyes Tom had looked; nor did he rago because ho believed that Crolley's life and his were in the great er hazard for the lack of every drop of water that should have Issued from tho empty nozzlo. Their lungs wero burdened with smoke, while the intolerable smarting of throat, eyes and nostrils was llko tho Incision of n thousand needles In tho membranes. Thc'lr clothes wero luminous with glowing circles where tho spnrks were eating. Tho blazb widened on the wall beneath them,' and Marsh was shouting hoarsely that ho could no longer hold his position on ' tho ladder, yet Crailey knew that none of this was In Tom's mind ns he stood, scorched, blistered and haggard, on tho edge of the roof, shaking his list nt tho world. It was becauso his chanco of saving tho property of u mnn he de spised was being ondnngercd. Crailey stretched forth a hand arid touched his friend's knee. "Your side of tho conversation Is 11 trifle loud, Tom," ho said. "Miss Carewe is down there across tho street on a pile of boxes." Tom stopped In the middle of a word, for which he may havo received but half a black stroko from the recording angel. Ho wheeled townrd the street and, shielding his Inflamed eyes with his hand, gazed downward In a strick en silence. From thnt moment Mr. Vanrovel's Instructions to his followers were of n decorum at which not tlie meekest Sunday school scholar daro have caviled. Tlie three men now on the long lad derMarsh, Eugene Mndrlllon nnd Will Cummings found their position unten able, for tlie flumes, reaching all along tho wall, .were licking nt the ladder It self between Mnrsh nnd Eugene. "I can't stand this any longer," gasped Tupplnghnm, "but I enn't leavo those two up there either." "Not alone," shouted Cummings from beneath Madrlllon. "Let's jgo un." (To bo Continuud ) A Guaranteed Cure ftr Piles. Itching, blind, blooding, protruding piles. Druggists aro authorized to refund mouoy if Pazo Ointment fails to euro lu G to 14 days.' 50 cents. Have you boon betrayed by promise.) of quacks, swallowed pills and bottlo medicine without rdsults except a dam aged stomach? To those wo offor Hoi lister's Rocky Mountain Tea. 35 0cuts. C L. Cutting. &