A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
To explain what had occurred, and how that terrible cry had arisen, it is necessary to describe what had been passing in the large hall whilst the tableaux were going on upstairs.
The stalls of the bazaar were by that time pretty well empty, and made fine seats for the crowd of little people waiting eagerly to watch the antics of the performing dogs. Numbers of grown-up people, unable to get into the “theatre,” as it was dubbed for the nonce, remained to take care of the little ones, and the middle of the floor was left clear for the showman and his troupe.
This, like most other of the entertainments, was an amateur affair, the showman being a young man of fallen fortunes, who, from his love for animals, had taken to the training of performing dogs, sometimes making money by them, but always ready to lend his services for a good cause.
One of the cleverest of his dogs was a black poodle, half clipped and half shaggy, and he did wonderful things, as did also a big fox-terrier, his special friend and comrade. One of their accomplishments was to strike a match and light their pipes, and this feat was so applauded that it was repeated.
Somehow—nobody of course could say how or why—a spark from the match or the pipe settled in the poodle’s glossy coat, and, as it so chanced, his master had lately used a wash for it having some paraffin in its composition.
Instantly the poor dog was in a blaze, and, terrified out of all knowledge, rushed wildly hither and thither to the terror of all, whilst his master, catching up a great heavy cloak which a lady, with great presence of mind, flung across to him, pursued the poor creature, and at last succeeded in throwing this over him, and rolling him over till the flames were extinguished.
Everybody was watching the chase and the capture, and crowding round to know how much the poor dog had been hurt; and meantime a little thread of flame was running up one of the festoons against which the dog had dashed, and this in turn set fire to other festoons, till some burning paper fell upon one of the flimsy draperies of a stall, and in a moment a piercing cry went up from fifty throats—
“Fire! Fire!”
This was the cry which fell upon the ears of the packed assembly in the upper room, and immediately a thrill and a rustle went through the spectators.