Boys -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Boys -- Societies and clubs -- Juvenile fiction
Sam had found his bunk-bed of spruce boughs amazingly comfortable and,
snuggling under the blankets, had promptly dropped asleep. He was
healthily tired from his day’s travels; it was odd, therefore, that
distressing dreams came to disturb his rest. He began to toss and turn,
and writhe and groan. A giant’s hand, clutching at his throat, seemed
to be about to strangle him. There was a crushing weight upon his
chest; a trip-hammer was beating furiously in his head. Then some vague
monster had seized him, and was bearing him away with appalling speed.
The boy cried out in terror, and struggled desperately. Of a sudden he
was free of the monster’s grasp; he was falling from a dizzy height,
and about to be dashed to pieces. And then, just as destruction
impended, the dream passed, and he awoke to a reality sufficiently
perilous.
He was lying, half in, half out of the bunk. The camp was full of
smoke, dense, acrid, stifling. His eyes smarted and his throat was
parched and burning. At his side lay Poke, breathing stertorously.
Sam made him out by a flickering light, which came from the direction
of the cook’s quarters. Beyond him was Step, raised on an elbow and
coughing chokingly.
“Fire! Fire!” A startled voice raised the alarm, and others repeated
the cry. Men began to stagger by him, stumbling as they went and
groping wildly. Then three or four, led by Mr. Kane, charged the other
way. The boss was shouting orders. There was the crash of an axe
vigorously plied. The glass fell from a shattered window, and a draft
of cool air fanned his face.
Sam, fully awake at last, sprang from the bunk. Step, too, had gained
the floor. Between them they dragged Poke from his blankets, and put
him on his feet.
“Take him out, Step!” Sam directed, and set himself to the task of
rousing the Trojan, who appeared to be in the half unconscious
condition in which Poke was. The Shark, having very calmly adjusted his
spectacles on his nose, was tugging at Herman Boyd’s shoulder. Sam lent
a hand, and with his aid Herman was started for the door.
Tom Orkney overtook them. He was breathing with difficulty, but managed
to gasp out that the ell was all ablaze. Then came the foreman and a
lumberjack, carrying a helpless form.
“Cook--right where smudge was thickest--overcome,” Tom explained
hoarsely.
Through the doorway they pressed into the cold, still air of the
starless night. Mr. Kane touched Sam’s arm.
“All your crowd out? Good! Keep ’em out till we get the fire under.
’Twon’t be long, what with unseasoned logs and the snow on the roof.”
Then he was dashing back into the camp, and shouting orders to his men.
Tom Orkney bent over the cook, who was lying in the snow.
[Illustration: “HE’S COMING ’ROUND ALL RIGHT”]
“He’s coming ’round all right,” he reported. “We’ll bring out some
blankets----”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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