“He don’ drive little Missy over, Marsa.”
Another moment, and Mr. Donahue had disappeared in the smoke-filled house, followed by the boys.
Then Billie did something for which I am sure you will hardly know whether to commend her for her bravery or blame her for her recklessness.
“Where’s Dick, the mocking bird, Mammy?” she asked.
“In his cage in de kitchen, little Missy,” moaned the colored woman, rocking herself back and forth.
Running around the back of the house where she dimly remembered the kitchen was situated, Billie pressed her face against one of the windows and peered into the room, which was fast filling with smoke that poured in from a passage leading from the burning wing. She knew it was the kitchen because the floor was of brick and she could make out the dim outline of the great range which had not been used in all these years. It was impossible to find the door in all the intricate back region of the old house. It must be somewhere in that smoke-filled passage. Seizing an old stool under the window, Billie broke in the glass; then using it to stand on, she climbed through.
“Dick, old fellow,” she called.
A feeble chirp answered. Yes, there he was, huddled in his cage, his feathers all ruffled up and his head under his wing. She seized the cage and ran to the window just as the roof of the wing with a great crash fell in, covering the porch outside with burning debris. A volume of smoke and flame outside curled into the open window and she knew that escape was impossible that way.
As she ran up the three steps which divided the kitchen from the next room, she stumbled and fell over something stretched across the doorway. It was the body of a man lying face downward, his head on his arm. Seizing him by the shoulders, she dragged him away from the door and closed it to keep the smoke from pouring in. Then to confirm the suspicions which had come to her when she saw the rumpled black hair and slight, well-knit frame, she turned the man over.
“Edward!” she cried. “Get in here, Dicky-bird,” she said, slipping the mocking bird from the cage into her blouse.