第135章 "Right Onward"(5)

"They are taking great care of the things," said Erica."Perhaps we shall find it by and by.""We must find it," said Raeburn, his lips forming into the curve of resoluteness which they were wont to assume when any difficulty arose to be grappled with."What has become of the bairn?""A nurse came up and claimed it and was overwhelmingly grateful to you for your rescue.She had put the child to bed early and had gone for a walk in the gardens.Oh, look, how the fire is spreading!""The scaffolding is terribly against saving it, and the wind is high, too," said Raeburn, scanning the place all over with his keen eyes.Then, as an idea seemed to strike him, he suddenly hurried forward once more, and Erica saw him speaking to two fire brigade men.In another minute the soldiers motioned the crowd further back, Raeburn rejoined Erica, and, picking up her portmanteau, took her across the road to the steps of a neighboring hotel."I've suggested that they should cut down the scaffolding," he said; "it is the only chance of saving the place."The whole of the woodwork was now on fire; to cut it down was a somewhat dangerous task, but the men worked gallantly, and in a few minutes the huge blazing frame, with its poles and cross poles, ladders and platforms, swayed, quivered, then fell forward with a crash into the garden beyond.

Raeburn had, as usual, attracted to himself the persons most worth talking to in the crowd, a shrewd-looking inhabitant of Innsbruck, spectacled and somewhat sallow, but with a face which was full of intellect.He learned that, although no one could speak positively as to the origin of the fire, it was more than probable that it had been no mere accident.The very Sunday before, at exactly the same hour, a large factory had been entirely destroyed by fire, and it needed no very deep thinker to discover that a Sunday evening, when every one would be out-of-doors keeping holiday, and the fire brigade men scattered and hard to summon, was the very time for incendiarism.They learned much from the shrewd citizen about the general condition of the place, which seemed outwardly too peaceful and prosperous for such wild and senseless outbreaks.

"If, as seems probable, this is the act of some crazy socialist, he has unwittingly done harm to the cause of reform in general," said Raeburn to Erica when the informant had passed on."Those papers for Hasenbalg were important ones, and, if laid hold of by unfriendly hands, might do untold harm.Socialism is the most foolish system on earth.Inevitably it turns to this sort of violence when the uneducated have seized on its main idea.

"After all, I believe they will save the house," said Erica."Just look at those men on the top, how splendidly they are working!"It was, in truth, a grand, though a very horrible sight to see the dark forms toiling away, hewing down the burning rafters with an absolute disregard to their personal safety.These were not firemen, but volunteers chimney-sweeps, as one of the crowd informed Raeburn and it was in the main owing to their exertions that the fire was at length extinguished.

After the excitement was over, they went into the neighboring hotel, where there was some difficulty in obtaining rooms, as all the burned-out people had taken refuge there.However, the utmost hospitality and friendliness prevailed, and even hungry Englishmen, cheated of their dinner, were patient for once, while the overtaxed waiters hurried to and fro, preparing for the second and quite unexpected table d'hote.Everyone had something to tell either of his escape or his losses.One lady had seen her night gown thrown out of the window, and had managed adroitly to catch it; some one else on rushing up to find his purse had been deluged by the fire engine, and Raeburn's story of the little German boy excited great interest.The visitors were inclined to make a hero of him.Once, when he had left the room, Erica heard a discussion about him with no little amusement.

"Who is the very tall, white-haired man?""The man who saved the child? I believe he must be the Bishop of Steneborough; he is traveling in the Tyrol, I know, and I'm sure that man is a somebody.So much dignity, and such power over everybody! Didn't you see the way the captain of the fire brigade deferred to him?""Well, now I think of it," replied the other, "he has an earnest, devotional sort of face, perhaps you're right.I'll speak to him when he comes back.Ah!" in a lower voice, "there he is! And Confound it! He's got no gaiters! Goodbye to my visions of life-long friendship and a comfortable living for Dick!"In spite of his anxiety about the lost packet, Raeburn laughed heartily over Erica's account of this conversation.He had obtained leave to search the deserted hotel, and a little before ten o'clock they made their way across the square, over planks and charred rafters, broken glass, and pools of water, which were hard to steer through in the darkness.The fire was now quite out, and they were beginning to move the furniture in again, but the place had been entirely dismantled, and looked eerie and forlorn.On the staircase was a decapitated statue, and broken and crushed plants were strewn about.Erica's room was quite bare of furniture, nor could she find any of the things she wanted.The pen with which she had been writing lay on the floor, and also a Japanese fan soaked with water, but neither of these were very serviceable articles to a person bereft of every toilet requisite.

"I shall have to lie down tonight like a dog, and get up in the morning, and shake myself," she said, laughing.

And probably a good many people in Innsbruck were that evening in like case.