Page:The American Magazine volume LXIV.djvu/528

 "BEAUTY" KERRIGAN

A STORY OF NEWSPAPER AND STAGE LIFE

BY CHARLES BELMONT DAVIS

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAY HAMBIDGE

S the old man reached the doorway of the burning building the woman threw herself upon him and seiz- ing him by the shoulders wheeled him back towards her.

"I tell you they're not in the flat," she shrieked above the roar of the flames. " Katie told mc she was goin' across the hall to the Casadys."

The old man stood staring at his wife with his mouth wide open and his arms hanging Impotently in front of him. "I thought they was to home," he mumbled — "honest, I thought they was to home."

Kerrigan picked his way over the network of hose to the old couple, and shaking the man by the shoulders, tried to rouse him from his stupor. "What's up?" he asked briskly.

The old man with wide frightened eyes looked up at the young one, but his tongue refused to move, so he raised both arms and waved them towards the burning tenement. But it was different with the woman. There was an assurance in Kerrigan's man- ner, and a certain eagerness in bis eyes that made her believe him to be some one in authority, and so she seized him by the broad shoulders and pulled him down to her, so that she could shout in his ear. "My kids are in there — they'll be burned alive. The old man told the fireman they was in the third floor front, but I know they was at Cassidy's across the hall in the rear building."

Kerrigan stepped back and looked up at the high tenement with its gridiron of iron fire-escapes. The upper stories were shut out now by clouds of heavy black smoke, but the windows of the second and third stories flared up like the open doors of a blast furnace. Above the confused din of shouting firemen, the hissing shriek of es- caping steam, the clanging of bells from the third-alarm engines, and the warning cries of the crowd, there arose the continuous roar and the sharp crackle of unconquered flames. A hose burst almost at Kerrigan's feet and the sting of the cold water in his face once more stirred him into action.

He seized the old woman and put his mouth to her ear. " The third floor back?" he shouted. The woman nodded her head at him, and then in her frenzy turned to the crowds pressing against the ropes. "For God's sake," she shrieked, "won't somebody tell those firemen about my kidsl" A passing fireman stopped at the woman's cry, "Have you got kids in there?" he asked. The old woman only shook her head and with her arms beat the air in the direction of the flames.

"Well, you got to get out of this," said the fireman; "that wall is liable to go any time now. The roofs gone and the floors are ginn' away already." With both bands he half led, half dmgged the old couple away from the building, and with the aid of a policeman finally forced them behind the ropes.

In the meantime Kerrigan stood looking into the open doorway of the burning tene- ment. The fire had not yet reached the lower floor, and it was quite possible that he could find the fireman who had gone for the children and tell them that they were in the back of the house. The front of the building was a raging furnace, but there was a slight chance that it might be better in the rear. For a moment he hesitated, then he pulled his hat down hard and ran for the open doorway. Inside there was a pale gray smoke that smarted Kerrigan's eyes, and so he shut them tight and promptly fell over a hose. He knew that this must lead him to the firemen, and so with one