The Argosy, December 1905 — page 169: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BLOCK TOWER SEVEN. indeed, fell upon them—as they pro- gressed. Luckily, the girl’s robe was of heavy woolen stuff that did not easily ignite. At first Dan would have been unable to save her had fire caught her garments. But in afew minutes, getting beyond the thickest of the smoke (although the pungent clouds were being driven down the ravine faster than they could travel) the signalman stopped with a question: “ Where is your horse, Miss Howard? If we can climb. back to where you left tes ey “We cannot. And Jetty is not there now,” she added quickly. “TI left her untied and the fire soon drove her away. T heard her run.” “My God! You’ve risked a lot to save me!” he gasped, looking at her. “ How—how did you know I was in that car?” “T didn’t. I guessed it. You were missed from Coldspring, and I—I feared % “You reckoned that Jase Howard and his son had something to do with it?” he demanded, as she hesitated. She nodded. “Then I heard that there was somebody in that car. A boy —a child—Pippin heard yow shouting, and thought you were a ghost.” “Gad!” muttered Dan, going on, and leading her likewise; “I came near being a ghost all right.” They had little breath for useless con- versation. He understood but vaguely how and why she came to be the means of his eseape from the ear. But this was no time for explanations on either side. Since Belle had first heard of the presence of the wrecked box-car in the ravine, and suspected the identity of its oceuwpant—Pippin’s “ ha’nt ”—the wind had changed and inereased in ve- locity. Turning down the by-path into the thieker wood, she had ridden as near thé edge of the ravine as possible, and then turned Jetty loose, fearing that she might not be able to get back to her in season. The intelligent mare knew—even be- fore her mistress—that the fire was com- ' ing. Ere Belle was half-way down the hillside she heard. the mare neighing, 147 and a little later the crash of her hoofs in the brush told of her escape. Sweeping on to the brink of the ravine, the conflagration had quickly ig- nited the tops of the trees which made twilight at noon below. Now, as Dan Crompton and the girl ran, hand in hand, along the bottom of the gully, the fire raced with them on either brink. The sides of the ravine were precipi-~ tous, but the cut widened as they pro- geressed. The smoke continued to be driven down upon them, but they soon were out of the range of the falling brands and sparks. ing faster, in spite of Dan’s injuries, than their enemy above. “What shall we do? What lies in this direction?” the signalman panted after a bit. “The river—it’s our only hope,” she returned, and then they went on grimly, slipping over the patches of moss, stumbling across heaps of broken slag, tearing through thorn clumps—the girl exerting herself to the last ounce, as well as he. Dan had forgotten both hunger and thirst, and even minded his wounds but little. He was inspired by the thought that Belle’s fate was in his hands. He must keep up to save her. For, brave and vigorous as she was, the race was telling on her. If they could escape from the mouth of the ravine before the fire charged down into the lowlands, well and good; but Dan doubted. He knew little about the territory. He could take advantage of no short cut as the ravine broadened, and so they ran blindly, his eyes straining for the first glint of the river ahead. “Can we reach it?” she asked him once, more by her look than with her stiffened lips. : As far as poor Dan knew, the river might yet be a mile ahead, but he threw up his head, took a gasping breath, and shouted, “ Of course! ” And as Providence had other work for them to do, the river did appear shortly. The fire having swept down the hill- sides in charging cavaleades of flame, they ran on in an actual pyrotechnic dis- 9 COMIC OOOKS They were travel-. (C@