“Your hands are burned!” he exclaimed in concern, as he saw Sahwah looking ruefully at her blackened fingers. “Let me do something for them.”
“Nothing serious,” said Sahwah, turning them down so he could not see the blistered palms.
“They are, too!” persisted the Captain. “Have you any oil handy?”
“In the First Aid box over there,” said Sahwah. “It’s in that bottle labeled A Burned Child Dreads the Fire.”
The Captain returned with cotton and gauze and the oil and proceeded to bandage the scorched hands that had been so quick to avert disaster.
“Won’t Hinpoha be furious when she wakes up and finds her costume that she worked so hard on all burned up?” she said, as he wound the bandages under her direction. “I hated to throw it into the fire, but it had to be done.”
“She’d better not be furious,” returned the Captain. “She’s got you to thank that she didn’t burn up herself. She had a close call that time, and if you hadn’t snatched that burning rag off her and covered her with a rug I’d hate to think what would have happened. I tell you it’s great to be able to do the right thing at the right time. A lot of people talk about what they would do in an emergency, but very few of them ever do it.”
“Well,” returned Sahwah coolly, holding up her hands and inspecting the bandages with a critical eye, “there is an emergency before us right now. Suppose you stop talking and get busy and fry those pancakes for the boys. They’re dying of starvation outside.”
The Captain started, blushed and looked at her keenly to see if she were making fun of him, and then fell to work without a word finishing Sahwah’s interrupted labor.