Fighting the Flames

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

  THE LAST.

  For many months Frank Willders lay upon his bed unable to move, andscarcely able to speak. His left leg and arm had been broken, his faceand hands were burned and cut, and his once stalwart form was reduced toa mere wreck.

  During that long and weary time of suffering he had two nurses who neverleft him--who relieved each other day and night; smoothed his pillow andread to him words of comfort from God's blessed book. These were, hisown mother and Emma Ward.

  For many weeks his life seemed to waver in the balance, but at last hebegan to mend. His frame, however, had been so shattered that thedoctors held out little hope of his ever being anything better than ahelpless cripple, so, one day, he said to Emma:

  "I have been thinking, Emma, of our engagement." He paused and spokesadly--as if with great difficulty.

  "And I have made up my mind," he continued, "to release you."

  "Frank!" exclaimed Emma.

  "Yes, dear. No one can possibly understand what it costs me to saythis, but it would be the worst kind of selfishness were I to ask you tomarry a poor wretched cripple like me."

  "But what if I refuse to be released, Frank?" said Emma, with a smile;"you may, indeed, be a cripple, but you shall not be a wretched one ifit is in my power to make you happy; and as to your being poor--what ofthat? I knew you were not rich when I accepted you, and you know I havea very, very small fortune of my own which will at least enable us toexist until you are able to work again."

  Frank looked at her in surprise, for he had not used the word _poor_with reference to money.

  "Has mother, then, not told you anything about my circumstances oflate?" he asked.

  "No, nothing; what could she tell me that I do not already know?" saidEmma.

  Frank made no reply for a few moments, then he said with a sad yetgratified smile--

  "So you refuse to be released?"

  "Yes, Frank, unless you _insist_ on it," replied Emma.

  Again the invalid relapsed into silence and shut his eyes. Gradually hefell into a quiet slumber, from which, about two hours later, he awokewith a start under the impression that he had omitted to say something.Looking up he found that his mother had taken Emma's place. He at onceasked why she had not told Emma about the change in his fortunes.

  "Because I thought it best," said Mrs Willders, "to leave you to tellher yourself, Frank."

  "Well, mother, I depute you to tell her now, and pray do it withoutdelay. I offered to give her up a short time ago, but she refused tolisten to me."

  "I'm glad to hear it," replied the widow with a smile. "I alwaysthought her a good, sensible girl."

  "Hm! so did I," said Frank, "and something more."

  Once again he became silent, and, as an inevitable consequence, fellfast asleep. In which satisfactory state we will leave him while we runbriefly over the events of his subsequent history.

  In direct opposition to the opinion of all his doctors, Frank not onlyrecovered the use of all his limbs, but became as well and strong asever--and the great fire in Tooley Street left no worse marks upon himthan a few honourable scars.

  His recovery, however, was tedious. The state of his health, coupledwith the state of his fortune, rendered it advisable that he should seekthe benefit of country air, so he resigned his situation in the LondonFire Brigade--resigned it, we may add, with deep regret, for some of hishappiest days had been spent in connection with that gallant corps.

  Rambling and fishing among the glorious mountains of Wales with hisbrother Willie, he speedily regained health and strength. Whilewandering with delight through one of the most picturesque scenes ofthat wild and beautiful region, he came suddenly one day on a largewhite umbrella, under which sat a romantic-looking man, somethingbetween an Italian bandit and an English sportsman, who was deeplyengrossed with a sheet of paper on which he was depicting one of thegrandest views in the splendid pass of Llanberis. At this man Willierushed with a shout of surprise, and found that he answered at once tothe name of Fred Auberly! Fred was thrown into such a state of delightat the sight of his old friends that he capsized the white umbrella,packed up his paints, and accompanied them to their inn. Here, on beingquestioned, he related how that, while in Rome he had been seized with afever which laid him prostrate for many weeks; that, on his recovery, hewrote to Loo and his father, but received no reply from either of them;that he afterwards spent some months in Switzerland, making more thanenough of money with his brush to "keep the pot boiling," and that,finally, he returned home to find that dear Loo was dead, and that thegreat Tooley Street fire had swept away his father's premises and ruinedhim. As this blow had, however, been the means of softening his father,and effecting a reconciliation between them, he was rather glad thanotherwise, he said, that the fire had taken place. Fred did not say--although he might have said it with truth--that stiff and stately MrAuberly had been reduced almost to beggary, and that he was nowdependent for a livelihood on the very palette and brushes which once hehad so ruthlessly condemned to the flames!

  After this trip to Wales, Frank returned home and told his motherabruptly that he meant to marry Emma Ward without delay, to which MrsWillders replied that she thought he was quite right. As Emma appearedto be of the same mind the marriage took place in due course. That isto say, Miss Tippet and Emma managed to put it off as long as possibleand to create as much delay as they could. When they had not the shadowof an excuse for further delay--not so much as a forgotten band or anomitted hook of the voluminous trousseau--the great event was allowed togo on--or, "to come off."

  Many and varied were the faces that appeared at the church on thatauspicious occasion. Mr Auberly was there to give away the bride, andwonderfully cheerful he looked, too, considering that he gave her to theman whom he once thought so very unworthy of her. Willie was groomsman,of course, and among the bridesmaids there was a little graceful,dark-eyed and dark-haired creature, whom he regarded as an angel or afairy, or something of that sort, and whom everybody else, except Frankand Mrs Willders, thought the most beautiful girl in the church. Inthe front gallery, just above this dark-eyed girl, sat an elderly manwho gazed at her with an expression of intense affection. Hiscountenance was careworn and, had a somewhat dissipated look upon it.Yet there was a healthy glow on it, too, as if the dissipation were athing of the distant past. The dark-eyed girl once or twice stole aglance at the elderly man and smiled on him with a look of affectionquite as fervent as his own. There was a rather stylish youth at thisman's elbow whose muscles were so highly developed that they appearedabout to burst his superfine black coat. He was observed to nodfamiliarly to the dark-eyed girl more than once, and appeared to be in astate of considerable excitement--ready, as it were, to throw asomersault over the gallery on the slightest provocation.

  Of course, Miss Tippet was there in "_such_ a love of a bonnet," lookingthe picture of happiness. So was Mr Tippet, beaming all over with joy.So was Miss Deemas, scowling hatred and defiance at the men. So wasDavid Boone, whose circumstances had evidently improved, if one mightjudge from the self-satisfied expression of his face and the splendourof his attire. John Barret was also there, and, close beside him stoodNed Hooper, who appeared to shrink modestly from observation, owing,perhaps, to his coat being a little threadbare. But Ned had no occasionto be ashamed of himself, for his face and appearance showed clearlythat he had indeed been enabled to resist temptation, and that he hadrisen to a higher position in the social scale than a vendor ofginger-beer.

  In the background might have been seen Hopkins--tall and dignified asever, with Matty Merryon at his side. It was rumoured "below-stairs"that these two were engaged, but as the engagement has not yet advancedto anything more satisfactory, _we_ hold that to be a private matterwith which we have no right to meddle.

  Close to these stood a group of stalwart men in blue coats and leathernbelts, and with sailor-like caps in their hands. These men appeared totake a lively interest in what was go
ing forward, and evidently found itdifficult to restrain a cheer when Frank took Emma's hand. Once ortwice during the service one or two other men of similar appearancelooked into the church as if in haste, nodded to their comrades, andwent out again, while one of them appeared in the organ loft with ahelmet hanging on his arm and his visage begrimed with charcoal, as ifhe were returning from a recent fire. This man, feeling, no doubt, thathe was not very presentable, evidently wished to see without being seen.He was very tall and stout, and was overheard to observe, in very Irishtones, that "it was a purty sight intirely."

  When the carriage afterwards started from the door, this man--who bore astrong resemblance to Joe Corney--sprang forward and called for threecheers, which call was responded to heartily by all, but especially bythe blue-coated and belted fellows with sailor-like caps, who cheeredtheir old comrade and his blooming bride with those deep and thrillingtones which can be produced in perfection only by the lungs and throatsof true-blue British tars!

  Now, it must not be supposed that this was the end of Frank's career.In truth, it was only the beginning of it, for Frank Willders was one ofthose men who know how to make a good use of money.

  His first proceeding after the honeymoon was to take a small farm in thesuburbs of London. He had a tendency for farming, and he resolved atleast to play at it if he could make nothing by it. There was a smallcottage on the farm, not far from the dwelling-house. This was rentedby Willie, and into it he afterwards introduced Ziza Cattley as MrsWilliam Willders. The widow inhabited another small cottage not ahundred yards distant from it, but she saw little of her own home exceptat night, being constrained to spend most of her days with one or otherof her "boys."

  As the farm was near a railway station, Willie went to town everymorning to business--Saturdays and Sundays excepted--and returned everyevening. His business prospered and so did Mr Tippet's. Thateccentric old gentleman had, like Mr Auberly, been ruined by the greatfire, but he did not care--so he said--because the _other_ business kepthim going! He was not aware that Willie's engineering powers turned inall the money of that other business, and Willie took care never toenlighten him, but helped him as of old in planning, inventing, anddiscovering, to the end of his days.

  There was one grand feature which Frank introduced into his suburbanestablishment which we must not omit to mention. This was a new patentsteam fire-engine. He got it not only for the protection of his ownfarm, but, being a philanthropic man, for the benefit of the surroundingdistrict, and he trained the men of his farm and made them expertfiremen. Willie was placed in command of this engine, so that the greatwish of his early years was realised! There was not a fire within tenmiles round them at which Willie's engine was not present; and thebrothers continued for many years to fight the flames together in thatneighbourhood.

  As for stout George Dale, and sturdy Baxmore, and facetious Joe Corney,with his comrades Moxey, Williams, and Mason, and Sam Forest, thoseheroes continued to go on the even tenor of their way, fighting morebattles with the flames in six months than were fought with our humanenemies by all our redcoats and blue-jackets in as many years, andwithout making any fuss about it, too, although danger was the elementin which they lived, and wounds or death might have met them any day ofthe year.

  For all we know to the contrary, they may be carrying on the war whilewe pen this chronicle, and, unless more vigorous measures are adoptedfor _preventing_ fire than have been taken in time past, there can be noquestion that these stout-hearted men will in time to come have moreoccasion than ever for--fighting the flames.

  THE END.