That was the beginning of the great Fishbourne fire, which burnt its way sideways into Mr. Rusper’s piles of crates1 and straw, and backwards2 to the petrol and stabling of the Royal Fishbourne Hotel, and spread from that basis until it seemed half Fishbourne would be ablaze3. The east wind, which had been gathering4 in strength all that day, fanned the flame; everything was dry and ready, and the little shed beyond Rumbold’s in which the local Fire Brigade kept its manual, was alight before the Fishbourne fire hose could be saved from disaster. In marvellously little time a great column of black smoke, shot with red streamers, rose out of the middle of the High Street, and all Fishbourne was alive with excitement.
Much of the more respectable elements of Fishbourne society was in church or chapel5; many, however, had been tempted6 by the blue sky and the hard freshness of spring to take walks inland, and there had been the usual disappearance7 of loungers and conversationalists from the beach and the back streets when at the hour of six the shooting of bolts and the turning of keys had ended the British Ramadan, that weekly interlude of drought our law imposes. The youth of the place were scattered8 on the beach or playing in back yards, under threat if their clothes were dirtied, and the adolescent were disposed in pairs among the more secluded9 corners to be found upon the outskirts10 of the place. Several godless youths, seasick11 but fishing steadily12, were tossing upon the sea in old Tarbold’s, the infidel’s, boat, and the Clamps were entertaining cousins from Port Burdock. Such few visitors as Fishbourne could boast in the spring were at church or on the beach. To all these that column of smoke did in a manner address itself. “Look here!” it said, “this, within limits, is your affair; what are you going to do?”
The three hobbledehoys, had it been a weekday and they in working clothes, might have felt free to act, but the stiffness of black was upon them and they simply moved to the corner by Rusper’s to take a better view of Mr. Polly beating at the door. The policeman was a young, inexpert constable13 with far too lively a sense of the public house. He put his head inside the Private Bar to the horror of everyone there. But there was no breach14 of the law, thank Heaven! “Polly’s and Rumbold’s on fire!” he said, and vanished again. A window in the top story over Boomer’s shop opened, and Boomer, captain of the Fire Brigade, appeared, staring out with a blank expression. Still staring, he began to fumble15 with his collar and tie; manifestly he had to put on his uniform. Hinks’ dog, which had been lying on the pavement outside Wintershed’s, woke up, and having regarded Mr. Polly suspiciously for some time, growled16 nervously17 and went round the corner into Granville Alley18. Mr. Polly continued to beat and kick at Rumbold’s door.
Then the public houses began to vomit19 forth20 the less desirable elements of Fishbourne society, boys and men were moved to run and shout, and more windows went up as the stir increased. Tashingford, the chemist, appeared at his door, in shirt sleeves and an apron21, with his photographic plate holders22 in his hand. And then like a vision of purpose came Mr. Gambell, the greengrocer, running out of Clayford’s Alley and buttoning on his jacket as he ran. His great brass23 fireman’s helmet was on his head, hiding it all but the sharp nose, the firm mouth, the intrepid24 chin. He ran straight to the fire station and tried the door, and turned about and met the eye of Boomer still at his upper window. “The key!” cried Mr. Gambell, “the key!”
Mr. Boomer made some inaudible explanation about his trousers and half a minute.
“Seen old Rumbold?” cried Mr. Polly, approaching Mr. Gambell.
“Gone over Downford for a walk,” said Mr. Gambell. “He told me! But look ’ere! We ‘aven’t got the key!”
“Lord!” said Mr. Polly, and regarded the china shop with open eyes. He knew the old woman must be there alone. He went back to the shop front and stood surveying it in infinite perplexity. The other activities in the street did not interest him. A deaf old lady somewhere upstairs there! Precious moments passing! Suddenly he was struck by an idea and vanished from public vision into the open door of the Royal Fishbourne Tap.
And now the street was getting crowded and people were laying their hands to this and that.
Mr. Rusper had been at home reading a number of tracts26 upon Tariff27 Reform, during the quiet of his wife’s absence in church, and trying to work out the application of the whole question to ironmongery. He heard a clattering28 in the street and for a time disregarded it, until a cry of Fire! drew him to the window. He pencilled-marked the tract25 of Chiozza Money’s that he was reading side by side with one by Mr. Holt Schooling29, made a hasty note “Bal. of Trade say 12,000,000” and went to look out. Instantly he opened the window and ceased to believe the Fiscal30 Question the most urgent of human affairs.
“Good (kik) Gud!” said Mr. Rusper.
For now the rapidly spreading blaze had forced the partition into Mr. Rumbold’s premises31, swept across his cellar, clambered his garden wall by means of his well-tarred mushroom shed, and assailed32 the engine house. It stayed not to consume, but ran as a thing that seeks a quarry33. Polly’s shop and upper parts were already a furnace, and black smoke was coming out of Rumbold’s cellar gratings. The fire in the engine house showed only as a sudden rush of smoke from the back, like something suddenly blown up. The fire brigade, still much under strength, were now hard at work in the front of the latter building; they had got the door open all too late, they had rescued the fire escape and some buckets, and were now lugging34 out their manual, with the hose already a dripping mass of molten, flaring35, stinking36 rubber. Boomer was dancing about and swearing and shouting; this direct attack upon his apparatus37 outraged38 his sense of chivalry39. The rest of the brigade hovered40 in a disheartened state about the rescued fire escape, and tried to piece Boomer’s comments into some tangible41 instructions.
“Hi!” said Rusper from the window. “Kik! What’s up?”
Gambell answered him out of his helmet. “Hose!” he cried. “Hose gone!”
“I (kik) got hose!” cried Rusper.
He had. He had a stock of several thousand feet of garden hose, of various qualities and calibres, and now he felt was the time to use it. In another moment his shop door was open and he was hurling42 pails, garden syringes, and rolls of garden hose out upon the pavement. “(Kik),” he cried, “undo it!” to the gathering crowd in the roadway.
They did. Presently a hundred ready hands were unrolling and spreading and tangling43 up and twisting and hopelessly involving Mr. Rusper’s stock of hose, sustained by an unquenchable assurance that presently it would in some manner contain and convey water, and Mr. Rusper, on his knees, “kik”ing violently, became incredibly busy with wire and brass junctions44 and all sorts of mysteries.
“Fix it to the (kik) bathroom tap!” said Mr. Rusper.
Next door to the fire station was Mantell and Throbson’s, the little Fishbourne branch of that celebrated45 firm, and Mr. Boomer, seeking in a teeming46 mind for a plan of action, had determined47 to save this building. “Someone telephone to the Port Burdock and Hampstead-on-Sea fire brigades,” he cried to the crowd and then to his fellows: “Cut away the woodwork of the fire station!” and so led the way into the blaze with a whirling hatchet48 that effected wonders in no time in ventilation.
But it was not, after all, such a bad idea of his. Mantell and Throbsons was separated from the fire station in front by a covered glass passage, and at the back the roof of a big outhouse sloped down to the fire station leads. The sturdy ‘longshoremen, who made up the bulk of the fire brigade, assailed the glass roof of the passage with extraordinary gusto, and made a smashing of glass that drowned for a time the rising uproar49 of the flames.
A number of willing volunteers started off to the new telephone office in obedience50 to Mr. Boomer’s request, only to be told with cold official politeness by the young lady at the exchange that all that had been done on her own initiative ten minutes ago. She parleyed with these heated enthusiasts51 for a space, and then returned to the window.
And indeed the spectacle was well worth looking at. The dusk was falling, and the flames were showing brilliantly at half a dozen points. The Royal Fishbourne Hotel Tap, which adjoined Mr. Polly to the west, was being kept wet by the enthusiastic efforts of a string of volunteers with buckets of water, and above at a bathroom window the little German waiter was busy with the garden hose. But Mr. Polly’s establishment looked more like a house afire than most houses on fire contrive52 to look from start to finish. Every window showed eager flickering53 flames, and flames like serpents’ tongues were licking out of three large holes in the roof, which was already beginning to fall in. Behind, larger and abundantly spark-shot gusts54 of fire rose from the fodder55 that was now getting alight in the Royal Fishbourne Hotel stables. Next door to Mr. Polly, Mr. Rumbold’s house was disgorging black smoke from the gratings that protected its underground windows, and smoke and occasional shivers of flame were also coming out of its first-floor windows. The fire station was better alight at the back than in front, and its woodwork burnt pretty briskly with peculiar56 greenish flickerings, and a pungent57 flavour. In the street an inaggressively disorderly crowd clambered over the rescued fire escape and resisted the attempts of the three local constables58 to get it away from the danger of Mr. Polly’s tottering59 fa?ade, a cluster of busy forms danced and shouted and advised on the noisy and smashing attempt to cut off Mantell and Throbson’s from the fire station that was still in ineffectual progress. Further a number of people appeared to be destroying interminable red and grey snakes under the heated direction of Mr. Rusper; it was as if the High Street had a plague of worms, and beyond again the more timid and less active crowded in front of an accumulation of arrested traffic. Most of the men were in Sabbatical black, and this and the white and starched60 quality of the women and children in their best clothes gave a note of ceremony to the whole affair.
For a moment the attention of the telephone clerk was held by the activities of Mr. Tashingford, the chemist, who, regardless of everyone else, was rushing across the road hurling fire grenades into the fire station and running back for more, and then her eyes lifted to the slanting61 outhouse roof that went up to a ridge62 behind the parapet of Mantell and Throbson’s. An expression of incredulity came into the telephone operator’s eyes and gave place to hard activity. She flung up the window and screamed out: “Two people on the roof up there! Two people on the roof!”
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crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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seasick
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| adj.晕船的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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fumble
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| vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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vomit
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| v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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holders
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| 支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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fiscal
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| adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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41
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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42
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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43
tangling
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的现在分词 ) | |
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44
junctions
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| 联结点( junction的名词复数 )； 会合点； （公路或铁路的）交叉路口； （电缆等的）主结点 | |
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45
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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46
teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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48
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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49
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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50
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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51
enthusiasts
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| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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52
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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53
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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54
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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55
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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58
constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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59
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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60
starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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