OCR Text |
Show : DOC HORNE (of the Alfalfa Hotel) AND HIS FRIENDS b-georgei Of the men who lived at the Alfalfa European Hotel Alfalfa, because the name had a pleasing sound; European, because no meals were served in the house the one worth knowing was Calvin Horue, . called Doe Home by his familiars. His age cannot be yiven. He never told it. He "was bald on the top of his head. His t'aco had the fullness of ' 1 youth, but it was wrinkled. The chin beard was white. When it is said, further, fur-ther, that he wore clothes such as might be worn by any old gentleman who had ceased to be fastidious on tho point of personal adornment, the reader knows as much as any one would know in taking a tirst glance at Doc Horne as he sat in the office of the Alfalfa European hotel with his satellites grouped about him. His daily einloy-mcut einloy-mcut called him to the federal ofhees, where he checked pension lists or classified classi-fied vouchers or performed some other kind of labor quite unsuited to him. Doc overshadowed his occupation, and it is doubtful if there will be another , ' reference to it. When it is related that Doc and his companions moved in and about the hotel, it is not to be concluded that they had the hotel to themselves. Many strangers came to the desk and claimed their keys and rode upward in the tremulous trem-ulous elevator. Men whose names do j not appear and whose comments will ' be suppressed stood at a respectful ; distance and heard what Doe had to say of love and life. Mr. Ike Francis, proprietor, is somewhere in the office, ' smoking his pipe, and other persons are in the background, reading newspapers. These are mere details ot the setting, i and will not be pointed out again. One evening Doc sat in the office and told a chapter to an actor from a farm ' in Ohio, a drinking man from a village in Now York, a lightning dentist from an interior county of Indiana, and a race-track man from tho blue-grass part of Kentucky. They were talking of women, and the topic lasted well at the Alfalfa hotel, as elsewhere. The actor had said that once upon a time he went up a ladder and into a burning house to save a young woman. That reminded Doc Home of Crosbyvillc. "Let's see I spent two or three years in CrosVtvvillc, off and on," he began, "and tois must have happened in "the fall of 'ol or the spring ot o2. I remember that I left Crosbyvillo just about the time of the presidential campaign, cam-paign, and that was well, it must have been about June, '52. No matter; the date doesn't make a.ny difference. "In order that vou may understand this story better, I'll have to go back a little. The first time I ever visited in Crosbyvillo I- was invited out to a shooting-match. We didn't shoot at irlass balls or live pigeons in those days. We usually put a white square of paper up against a tree and blazed away at it with rifles, and, although our firearms were of defective bore, I can assure you that some of the best shooting I ever saw was at these old-time matches out in tho woods. However, that has nothing noth-ing to do with the story. "One of my friends .invited me to go to the shooting match, and after I gut out there I was asked to enter the contest. Well, I went in and I happened hap-pened to get a rifle that sighted just right for me, and I won. A man who had been introduced to me as Captain Jaynes made the next highest score. It "seemed to me that the other contestants con-testants took their defeat good-naturedly, but on the way home my friend told mo to look out for this Captain Jaynes. He was a hot-headed Ken-tuc Ken-tuc kian, and it seems that this was the first time he had been defeated in years, and it worried him a good deal. My friend told me that he Had taken I.-A TALE OF CROSBYVILLE a dislike to me and would probably try to pick a quarrel at the first opportunity. oppor-tunity. ' ' Vell, that same afternoon I invited all the men who had been at the shooting shoot-ing match to oorae over to tha tavern. It was customary for the winner of the match to stand treat to tho others. Cantain Jaynes came in rather late, while we were all sitting around and talking. I arose and asked him to join the party. He bowed very coldlv and said that he was not in the habit of drinking with strangers. Now, I was rather touchy in my younger days. 1 said: ' 'Very well, captain; I withdraw tho Invitation. I made the mistake of supposing that you would feel at home in a company of gentlemen.' "I knew what, to expect when I said that. He started to draw a knife, 'but before he could lift it I had hold of him. They pulled us apart and tried to quiet him, but he went away raving mad. They all said he would" kill me the first time we met, but he must have cooled down when ho had time to i think it over. I saw him often after that passed him on the street. He never made a move, but I knew that he hated me and would be glad of a chance to do me an injury. "The cantain 's house was right on the bank ot the Green river, and stood ! near his mill. It was an old-fashioned ! two-story house, very broad and well i built, and thickly surrounded by trees, i It was considered the best house in I CrosbvyiUe. The captain was the wealthiest and one of the most prominent promi-nent citizens of the town. He was a widower and had two children a son of fourteen or so, and a daughter named Kliz-abeth. She was a verv beautiful girl very charming. T had met her several times, but, of course, I I had never become well acquainted with her on account of my standing feud with her father. "Well, to make a long story short, the whole town was aroused by an alarm of fire one night, and when we turned out the Javnes mill was one mass of flames. It was an old-style structure, with a framework of heavy logs, aDd it made a fearful blaze. 'The wind was blowing the flames toward the house. Every one saw that it was no use to try and eave the mill, so we turned in to defend the house got up on tho roof and passed buckets and put out wet blankets to catch the erjarks, but ail in vain, gentlemen, all in vain. The men were driven off the roof, and the water dried as fast as it was thrown on. All at once one whole side of the house seemed to spring into a flame. There was a general shout, and everybody retreated to a safe distance. dis-tance. The members of the family and the neighbors had been removing the household goods. "Just as the house caught fire, and all the men were getting out of it as fast as they could? I heard Elizabeth Jaynes cry out: 'The canary!7 Then she ran back into the house, with every one calling to her to stop. I-didn t hesitate a moment, I assure you. She went through that terrific "heat and dense smoke right up the stairway, and I followed. "I caught her by the arm at the top of the stairs and told her to come back. She was hysterical and excited said she wouldut leave until she got the bird. In spite of all I could do she pulled away from me and ran to the tront room her bedroom. 1 believe and felt her way to where the bird cage was hanging. Gentlemen, it was-never was-never any hotter in any bake oven than it was in that room. "As soon as she got the bird cae T dragged her back through the hall, j The smoke was not so thick now be- , cause the fire had got a free draught , through the house and was making a , fearful roar and spreading rapidly. ! When we reached tho stairway the whole lower end of it was ablaze. 1 1 dragged the girl away to the front win-dow, win-dow, but by that tune the whole ve- ! randa was oh fire. The crowd outside saw us, and shouted something I could j not tell what. I saw there was no escape over that burning veranda. "When tho people shouted the girl fainted dead away. I threw her across my shoulder and started for the rear of tho house, because T knew that was my only salvation. The whole stairway stair-way was ablaze by that time, and tho flames were creeping up through the ! floor. T closed mv Tips tightly and in i about four leaps T reached a back win-. win-. dow. "Outside there was a big tree, almost , brushing the window. I kicked out the window sash and simply jumped into the tree. It was the only thing to be , done. Lucidly, I got my arm over a limb, which sagged with us and dropped us to the ground. "I scrambled to my feet and ran,! with the girl still hanging absolutely limp and helpless over my shoulder. I ; went straight for tho river with the in- tention of jumping in. The heat was something awful. It had driven away tho men who had been filling their buckets at the river. "Just as I staggered down the river bank I saw a skiff. Some one had probablj- rowed aeross the river to the fire, for the boat was not fastened. I dropped the girl into the boat and gave it a strong push out into the current, and in a few seconds we were floating down stream and were safe." "She had tho canary, I suppose?" said the lightning dentist. "Oh, ves, she was in a dead faint, but she 'hadn't let go of the cage. As soon as I recovered mv breath and wet my clothes in two or three places where thev were on tire, I splashed water m the" girl's face, and she recovered roa-seiousnesp, roa-seiousnesp, but was still hysterical and did not seem to realize fully what had happened. "We could look up tho river and see tho burning house. It made a huge blaze and threw a bright glare across the river. I rpmembcr the peculiar effect of this glare on the windows ot the houses across the river. It caused them to glow as if the houses were filled with live tiames. The girl was so frightened that she thought all the houses were afire. "When I got readv to row back I discovered dis-covered that I hadn't any oars. The current was swift and we were drifting rapidly, eo I pulled out a seat-board and used it as a rudder, and iu a few minutes I made a landing near a house occupied by a Mr. Wesley. Jdiss Jaynes was so weak and nervous that she could hardly walk, but I assisted her to this house and aroused the family. "The woman of the house was very kind. She cared for the young lady for about two hours and had one of the boys drive us back to Crosbyville. j "Now, in the general excitement we1 had forgotton that the people in Crosbyville Crosby-ville had every reason to believe that we had perished in the flames. You ooiildn 't blame them for thinking so. The window from which I had leaped was well hidden by trees, and there was do one at the river bank when we leaped into the boat. We learned afterward after-ward that the men had pulled down the burning veranda and had planted a ladder at the front window where we had been seen, but the blaze was so fierce that they had been driven back. "As I say, every one supposed that we were lost; so 3'ou can imagine what happened when we drove up in front the ruins about seven o'clock in morning. They were already fi(.apl: ing for our bodies. Yes, sh- t' thought we were ghosts. ' e?' "As soon as I explained to them 1 we got away vou never hear! J? cheering in your life. They litted ip Jaynes out of the wagon and tooir over to a neighboring house, to wkS the captain had been taken. The it was almost wild with grief. Those i? went over to the house say it was nl of the most affec'ing meetings tpa could be imagined. First he wept !? a baby and then he -jumped up it laughed like a boy and said he didn't care for the loss of his buildings so l as his daughter was safe. u "I suppose his daughter must hav. given him a very favorable acconnt J my efforts in her behalf, for presenile presen-ile came out of the house ftnri walbil up to where I was standing and saM. " 'Mr. Horne, you have done me ill greatest service that one man can a another. All that I have is at v0-. command now and forever. I ouce'dp" you an injustice. You have r&paid m-" Will you take the hand of a man honestly admits himself beaten and nn miliated?' a' 1 1 1 said io him: ' Captain, you a.( a brave and gallant man, but voi 1 were mistaken for once. Let 03 1 no more about the misunderstanding of the past.' We shook hands, from that day forward we were frietis He was a man of passions and pre-;. dices, but if he came to know voa"a-i like you he was the truest friend a maa ever had. ; ' "There's only one thing needed make that a eood story," Bugged the dentist. ''You ough't to sav tj you married the captain 's dacghter " "I am not going to sacrifice truth ia order to make a fancy romance' plied Doc. (Copvright, 1914; by the Wheeler St dicate, Inc.) |