"Sam Smith," shouted Eddie, reining in his horse close to the individual
addressed, "why don't you drop that old pipe, take your hands out of your
pockets, and go to work to put out the fire!"
"Eh!" cried Sam, turning slowly round so as to face his interlocutor,
"why--I--I--I couldn't do nothin'; it's bound to go--that house is; don't
you see how the wind's a blowin'? Well, 'tain't much 'count nohow, and I
wouldn't care, on'y she says she's left the baby in there; so she does."
"The baby?" and almost before the words had left his lips, Eddie had
cleared the rough rail fence at a bound, and was rushing toward the
burning house.
How the flames crackled and roared, seeming like demons greedily devouring
all that came in their way.
"That horse blanket, Jim! bring it here quick, quick!" he shouted back to
his servant. Then to the half-crazed woman, "Where is your baby? where did
you leave it?"
"In there, in there on the bed, oh, oh, it's burnin' all up! I forgot it,
an' I couldn't get back."
Eddie made one step backward, and ran his eye rapidly over the burning
pile, calmly taking in the situation, considering whether the chances of
success were sufficient to warrant the awful risk.
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