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Chapter 16 The Fire Later on in the evening,
A traveller's horse was brought in by the second hostler,
And while he was cleaning him,
A young man with a pipe in his mouth lounged into the stable to gossip.
I say,
Trowler,
Said the hostler,
Run up the ladder into the loft,
And put some hay down into the horse's rack,
Will you,
And only lay down your pipe first.
All right,
Said the other,
And he went up through the trap door.
I heard him step across the floor overhead and put down the hay.
James came in to look at us last thing,
And then the door was locked.
I cannot say how long I had slept,
Nor what time in the night it was,
But I woke up very uncomfortable,
Though I hardly knew why.
I got up.
The air seemed thick and choking.
I heard Ginger coughing,
And one of the other horses seemed very restless.
It was quite dark,
And I could see nothing,
But the stable seemed full of smoke.
I hardly knew how to breathe.
The trap door had been left open,
And I thought that was the place it came through.
I listened and heard a soft rushing sort of noise and a low crackling.
I didn't know what it was,
But there was something in the sound so strange it made me tremble all over.
The other horses were all awake now,
And some were pulling up the halters,
Others stamping.
At last I heard steps outside,
And the hostler who'd put up the traveller's horse burst into the stable with a lantern and began to untie us.
He tried to lead us out,
But he seemed in such a hurry and so frightened himself that he frightened me even more.
The first horse would not go with him.
He tried the second and the third,
And they would not stir.
He came to me next and tried to drag me out of the stall by force,
But of course that was no use.
He tried us all by turns,
And then he left the stable.
No doubt we were very foolish that day,
But danger seemed to be all around,
And there was nobody we knew to trust in.
All was strange and uncertain.
The fresh air that had come through the open door made it easier to breathe,
But up ahead that rushing sound grew louder.
Then I looked upward through the bars of my empty rack and saw a red light flickering on the wall.
Fire!
Somebody cried outside,
And the old hostler quietly and quickly came in.
He got one horse out,
Then he went to another,
But the flames were playing round the trap door now,
And the roaring overhead was dreadful.
The next thing I heard was James's voice,
Quiet and cheery as it always was.
Come along me beauties,
It's time for us to be off,
Wake up and come along.
I stood nearest the door,
So he came to me first,
Patting me as he came in.
Come beauty,
On with your bridle my boy,
We'll soon be out of this smother.
It was on in no time,
And he took the scarf off his neck and tied it lightly over my eyes.
Then patting and coaxing,
He led me out of the stable.
When I was safe in the yard,
He slipped the scarf off and shouted,
Here's someone,
Take this horse while I go back for the other.
A tall broad man stepped forward and took me,
And James darted back into the stable.
I set up a shrill whinny as I saw him go,
And Ginger told me afterwards,
That whinny was the best thing I could have done for her,
But had she not heard me outside,
She would never have had the courage to come out.
Out in the yard there was so much confusion,
The horses being got out of other stables,
The carriages and gigs being pulled out of the houses and the sheds,
Lest the flames should spread further.
On the other side,
The yard windows were thrown up,
And people were shafting all sorts of things,
But I kept my eye fixed on that stable door,
Where the smoke poured out thicker than ever.
I could see flashes of red light,
And presently I heard above all the stir and din,
A loud clear voice,
Which I knew was my master's.
James Howard,
James Howard,
Are you there?
There was no answer,
And I heard a crash of something falling in the stable,
But the next moment I gave a loud joyful neigh,
For I saw James coming through the smoke,
Leading Ginger with him.
She was coughing violently,
And he was not able to speak.
My brave lad,
Said master,
Laying his hand on his shoulder,
Are you hurt?
James shook his head,
For he could not speak.
Aye,
Said the big man who held me,
He's a brave lad and no mistake.
Now,
Said master,
When you've got your breath,
James,
We'll get out of this place as quickly as we can.
And we were moving towards the entry,
When from the market place there came a sound of galloping feet,
And loud rumbling wheels.
There's the fire engine,
Shouted two or three voices,
Stand back,
Make way.
Clattering and thundering over the stones,
Two horses dashed into the yard with a heavy engine behind them,
And their firemen leapt to the ground.
There was no need to ask where the fire was,
It was rolling up in a great blaze from the stable roof.
We got out as fast as we could into the broad quiet market place.
The stars were shining,
And except the noise behind us,
All was still.
Master led the way to a large hotel on the other side,
And as soon as the hostler came he said,
James,
I must hasten to your mistress,
I trust the horses entirely to you,
Order whatever you think's needed.
Then with that he was gone.
He did not run,
But I never saw a mortal man walk so fast as he did that night.
The next morning the master came out to see how we were and speak to James.
I did not hear much,
For the hostler was rubbing me down,
But I could see James looked very happy,
And I thought the master was proud of him.
Our mistress had been so much alarmed in the night,
The journey was put off till the afternoon,
So James had the morning on hand,
And we went first to the inn to see about our harness and the carriage,
And to hear more about the fire.
At first no one could guess how it had been caused,
But at last a man said he saw Dick Towler go into the stable with a pipe in his mouth,
And when he came out he had not got one.
Then the under hostler said he'd asked Dick to go up to the ladder to put down some hay,
But told him to put his pipe down first.
Dick denied taking the pipe with him of course,
But nobody believed him.
I remember our John Manley's rule,
Never to allow a pipe in the stable,
And from that moment on I thought it should be the rule everywhere.
James said the roof and floor of the stable had all fallen in that night,
And only the black walls were standing.
It was a very sad thing,
He said,
For the two poor horses that could not be got out were buried under the burned rafters and tiles.
Thank goodness we had James to rescue us,
And a good master to see that we were well cared for afterwards.
