It seemed strange to have Sunday-school just after a fire, but the Ogden family and its visitors at once made ready.
It was a quarterly meeting, with general exercises and singing, and a review of the quarter's lessons. The church was full by the hour for opening, and the school had a very prosperous look. Elder Holloway and Mr. Murdoch and two other important men sat in the pulpit, and Joab Spokes1, the superintendent2, stood in front of them to conduct the exercises. The elder seemed to be glancing benevolently3 around the room, through his spectacles, but there were some things there which could be seen without glasses, and he must have seen those also.
Miss Glidden looked particularly well and very stately, as she sat in the pew in front of her class (if it were hers), with Mary Ogden. Her first words, on coming in to take command, had been:
"Mary, dear, don't go. I really wish you to stay. You may be of assistance."
Mary flushed a little, but she said nothing in reply. She remained, and she certainly did assist, for the girls looked at her almost all the while, and Miss Glidden had no trouble whatever, and nothing to do but to look pleased and beaming and dignified4. The elder, it was noticed, seemed to feel special interest in the part taken in the exercises by the class with two teachers, one for show and one for work. He even seemed to see something comical in the situation, and there was positive admiration5 in a remark he made to Mr. Murdoch:
"She's a true teacher. There's really only one teacher to that class. She must have been born with a knack6 for it!"
Elder Holloway, with all his years and experience, had not understood the case of Miss Glidden's class more perfectly7 than had one young observer at the other end of the church. Jack8 Ogden could not see so well as those great men in the pulpit, but then he could hear much and surmise9 the rest.
"All those girls will stand by Molly!" he said to himself. "I hope it won't be long before school's dismissed," he added.
He had reasons for this hope. He was a little late through lingering to take a curious look at what was left of the fire. The street had a littered look. The barns and stables were wide open, and deserted10, for the horses had been led to places of safety. There seemed to be an impression that the hotel was half destroyed; but the damage had not been very great.
A faint, thin film of blue was eddying11 along the ridgepole of the kitchen addition. Jack noticed it, but did not know what it meant. A more practiced observer would have known that, hidden from sight, buried in the punk of the dry-rotted timber, was a vicious spark of fire, stealthily eating its way through the punk of the resinous12 pine.
Jack paid little attention to the tiny smoke-wreath, but he was compelled to pay some attention to the weather. It had been hot from sunrise until noon, and the air had grown heavier since.
"I know what that haze13 means," said Jack to himself, as he looked toward the Cocahutchie. "There's a thunderstorm coming by and by, and nobody knows just when. I'll be on the lookout14 for it."
For this reason he was glad that he was compelled to find a seat not far from the door of the church. Twice he went out to look at the sky, and the second time he saw banks of lead-colored clouds forming on the northwestern horizon. Returning he said to several of the boys near the vestibule:
"You've just time to get home, if you don't want a ducking."
Each boy passed along the warning; and when the school stood up to sing the last hymn15, even the girls and the older people knew of the coming storm. There was a brief silence before the first note of the organ, and through that silence nearly everybody could catch the shrill16 squeak17 in which little Joe Hawkins tried to speak very low and secretly.
"Deakin Cobb, we want to git aout! We've just time to git home if we don't want a duckin'."
The hymn started raggedly18 and in a wrong pitch; and just then the great room grew suddenly darker, and there was a low rumble19 of thunder.
"Mary Ogden!" exclaimed Miss Glidden, "what are you doing? They can't go yet!"
Mary was singing as loudly and correctly as usual, but she was out in the aisle20, and the girls of that class were promptly21 obeying the motion of hand and head with which she summoned them to walk out of the church.
Elder Holloway may have been only keeping time when he nodded his head, but he was looking at Miss Glidden's class.
So was Miss Glidden, in a bewildered way, as if she, like little Bo-peep, were losing her sheep. Mary was following a strong and sudden impulse. Nevertheless, by the time that class was out of its pews the next caught the idea, and believed it a prudent22 thing to do. They followed in good order, singing as they went.
"The girls out first,—then the boys," said Elder Holloway, between two stanzas23. "One class at a time. No hurry."
Darker grew the air. Jack, out in front of the church, was watching the blackest cloud he had ever seen, as it came sweeping24 across the sky.
The people walked out calmly enough, but all stopped singing at the door and ran their best.
"Run, Molly! Run for home!" shouted Jack, seeing Mary coming. "It's going to be an awful storm."
"Run for Home."
"Run for Home."
Inside the church there was much hesitation25, for a moment; but Miss Glidden followed her class without delay, and all the rest followed as fast as they could, and were out in half the usual time. Joe Hawkins heard Jack's words to Molly.
"Run, boys," he echoed. "Cut for home! There's a fearful storm coming!"
He was right. Great drops were already falling now and then, and there was promise of a torrent26 to follow.
"I don't want to spoil these clothes," said Jack, uneasily. "I need these to wear in the city. The storm isn't here yet, though. I'll wait a minute." He was holding his hat on and looking up at the steeple when he said that. It was a very old, wooden steeple, tall, slender, and somewhat rheumatic, and he knew there must be more wind up so high than there was nearer the ground. "It's swinging!" he said suddenly. "I can see it bend! Glad they're all getting out. There come Elder Holloway and Mr. Murdoch. See the elder run! I hope he won't try to get to Hawkins's. He'd better run for our house."
That was precisely27 the counsel given the good man by the editor, and the elder said:
"I'd like to go there. I'd like to see that clever girl again. Come, Murdoch; no time to lose!"
The blast was now coming lower, and the gloom was deepening.
Flash—rattle—boom—crash! came a glitter of lightning and a great peal28 of thunder.
"Here it is!" cried Jack. "If it isn't a dry blast!"
It was something like the first hot breath of a hurricane. To and fro swung the tottering29 old steeple for a moment, and then there was another crash—a loud, grinding, splintering, roaring crash—as the spire30 reeled heavily down, lengthwise, through the shattered roof of the meeting-house! Except for Mary Ogden's cleverness, the ruins might have fallen upon the crowded Sunday-school. Jack turned and ran for home. He was a good runner, but he only just escaped the deluge31 following that thunderbolt.
Jack turned upon reaching the house, and as he looked back he uttered a loud exclamation32, and out from the house rushed all the people who were gathered there.
"Jingo!" Jack shouted. "The old hotel's gone, sure, this time!"
The burrowing33 spark had smoldered34 slowly along, until it felt the first fanning of the rising gale35. In another minute it flared36 as if under a blowpipe, and soon a fierce sheet of flame came bursting through the roof.
Down poured the rain; but the hottest of that blaze was roofed over, and the fire had its own way with the empty addition.
"We couldn't help if we should try," exclaimed Mr. Ogden.
"I'll put on my old clothes, any way," said Jack. "Nobody knows what's coming."
"I will, too," said his father.
Jack paused a moment, and said, from the foot of the stairs:
"The steeple's down,—right through the meeting-house. It has smashed the whole church!"
The sight of the fire had made him withhold37 that news for a minute; but now, for another minute, the fire was almost forgotten.
Elder Holloway began to say something in praise of Mary Ogden about her leading out the class, but she darted38 away.
"Let me get by, Jack," she said. "Let me pass, please. They all would have been killed if they had waited! But I was thinking only of my class and the rain."
She ran up-stairs and Jack followed. Then the elder made a number of improving remarks about discipline and presence of mind, and the natural fitness of some people for doing the right thing in an emergency. He might have said more, but all were drawn39 to the windows to watch the strife40 between the fire and the rain.
The fierce wind drove the smoke through the building, compelling the landlord and his wife to escape as best they could, and, for the time being, the victory seemed to be with the fire.
"Seems to me," said the blacksmith, somberly, "as if Crofield was going to pieces. This is the worst storm we ever had. The meeting-house is gone, and the hotel's going!"
Mary, at her window, was looking out in silence, but her face was bright rather than gloomy. Even if she was "only a girl," she had found an opportunity for once, and she had not proved unequal to it.
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1
spokes
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| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
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2
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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3
benevolently
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| adv.仁慈地，行善地 | |
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4
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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6
knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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8
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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10
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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11
eddying
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| 涡流，涡流的形成 | |
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resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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13
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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14
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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15
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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16
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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17
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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18
raggedly
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| 破烂地，粗糙地 | |
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19
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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20
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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21
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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22
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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23
stanzas
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| 节，段( stanza的名词复数 ) | |
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24
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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25
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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26
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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28
peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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29
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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30
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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31
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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32
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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33
burrowing
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| v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的现在分词 )；翻寻 | |
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34
smoldered
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| v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的过去式 ) | |
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35
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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36
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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37
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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38
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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39
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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40
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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