The Girl Scouts of the Round Table 18
Too stunned to be of service for the moment, Margaret and Louise
crowded against a friendly fence.
Why were the men and women, the girls and boys inside the burning
building not already streaming out into the streets?
Out of the downstairs windows a few people were jumping and pushing
one another. From the front door a dozen women and men ran and then a
little distance off stood still, gazing upward and calling to friends
above the uproar.
Edith Linder did not reappear.
A half dozen policemen appeared. Louise and Margaret found themselves
thrust backward and not allowed beyond a certain line.
“What is the trouble? Why don’t they clear out?” the girls overheard
one man ask the other.
“Something pretty bad is the trouble! The fire has started below and
the stairs are choked with smoke. Too many people in there for the size
of the building. I have been afraid of something like this.”
Down the street came the welcome noise of the first fire engine.
“Is there anything we can do to be useful, officer?” Margaret Hale
asked.
She had regained her self-command and walked as close as possible to
the dividing line, followed by Louise Miller.
The girls were wearing their Scout uniforms and now appeared calm and
efficient.
“Yes, glad to have your help! See you are Scouts! In a few moments
the children, whose mothers and fathers are locked in there, will be
crowding the streets. Help to keep them back out of the danger line.”
Not a moment too soon had the order been given.
At this instant Margaret reached to clutch a little girl, pushing her
way past, wild with terror.
She fought and screamed while Margaret held her fast.
“Be quiet, your mother will be here in a few moments. If you don’t stay
with me, she will never know where to find you,” she found herself
whispering reassuringly. And something in her voice and manner made the
child obey.
The following moment she opened the gate of the fence against which she
and Louise had sheltered themselves and drew the little girl inside.
It chanced that in this particular place an old building, erected many
years ago and now used for storage, stood back from the sidewalk with a
yard protected by a picket fence.
The yard could be made a place of refuge for the children who would try
to press inside the fire lines. Margaret knew she must find some one to
assist her. She turned to look for Louise Miller and discovered that
Louise had a small boy by the shoulders and was pushing him before her
into the same retreat.
No great length of time could have passed when Margaret Hale and Louise
were being assisted by a dozen members of the Eagle’s Wing Troop.
Afterwards the two girls remembered they had felt no surprise. The
news of the burning of the factory had spread through the village and
naturally the girls had come to be of service.
This was their first important test. Never before had they been able to
assume any public responsibility in the village! Were they making good
in the same fashion that the Boy Scouts had upon many occasions?
The small yard became more and more crowded with frightened, crying
children. Occasionally a policeman thrust a lost child into the midst
of the others and went on his way.
The factory was not yet emptied of its workers. Numbers of excited men
and women went past; a few tried to linger and push their way in among
the children in search of their own, but were forced on.
By this time a high wind was blowing and the flames from the burning
frame building crackled and roared, throwing forth long pennants of
flame, as if a flag whipped in the wind were then drawn back.
Margaret Hale knew she must have overheard the explanation, that a door
leading to the flight of stairs on the top floor had been locked. A
hundred men and women were trapped; with the lower-floors in flames,
they were unable to escape.
The firemen were ascending ladders and drawing them forth one by one.
With so much to absorb energy and attention, Margaret and Louise Miller
never lost the memory of Edith Linder’s sudden disappearance inside the
factory door. Perhaps she had been able to give the alarm or assist in
the rescue. She was extraordinarily brave. The other Girl Scouts had
guessed this trait of character on several unimportant occasions during
their summer together in Beechwood Forest.
She could not have observed the little group of her companions when she
came past, as she must have left the building some time before. One of
the side walls had fallen in and the fire was diminishing.
The police were urging people to return to their homes. The worst was
now over, but a space must be kept clear.
Would the Girl Scouts help the children to find their parents?
The officer to whom Margaret had first offered her own and Louise’s aid
stopped to lift his hat to her.
“It is not to you only, Miss, I am taking off my hat. It is to the
whole of you Girl Scouts. Sure and you’ve done yourselves proud, and
the village!” he remarked, with a delightful Irish brogue, appearing
as self-possessed and good-natured as if he had not passed through the
ordeal of the last hour.
It was after dusk when Louise and Margaret made their way again to
Edith Linder’s. They were too weary to speak to each other and too
overstrained, yet could not go to their homes for the night without
news of Edith.
She came out to meet them, and Margaret Hale, usually so
self-contained, put her arms about her, dropping her head on her
shoulder.
“Edith, I have not had time to confess it even to myself, but I have
been so frightened about you! Why were you so reckless? Surely you
could do nothing to help!”
Edith made no reply to this question. Later the Girl Scouts were to
learn what she had accomplished.
CHAPTER XIV
AN INTRODUCTION
A few days later Tory Drew and her Troop Captain were driving out
toward the evergreen cabin. It was a mild winter afternoon, with light
patches of snow where the sun had not shone and the ice melting between
the ruts in the road.
“It is good of you, Miss Mason, to drive with me to see Mr. Winslow.
Uncle Richard and I came out yesterday to find if he were comfortable,
and Memory Frean has offered to be of any service. Just the same, he
might have been lonely if I had not kept my word and brought you!
“Mr. Winslow asked me yesterday to whom he was indebted for the
suggestion of the cabin and I told him _you_. I told him a great deal
about you.”
Sheila Mason laughed.
She was looking very lovely in a dark-blue velvet coat suit with a
kolinsky collar and cuffs, and a velvet hat of the same shade against
the fairness of her pale-gold hair.
“Your friend will think I am a very informal person, coming to call
upon him in this fashion before he has called upon me, or before I have
even been introduced. Still, it was hard for you to have Dorothy desert
you just as you were both to take charge of your gifted invalid! I am
afraid he may find that he is lonely and dissatisfied so far from the
village and I want him to feel that he may make friends in Westhaven
whenever he desires, although we do not wish to be troublesome.”
“I wonder if you know how pretty you are looking, Sheila? Most people
do know when they are looking especially well!”
In thinking of Sheila Mason as their Girl Scout Captain, Tory always
intended addressing her by her title, but when they were alone she
often employed her first name.
With half-closed eyes she now gazed at her friend critically.
“If I were a full-fledged artist I would ask you to let me paint a
portrait of you. As I am not, I would never be able to do you justice.
I am sure Mr. Winslow would make a wonderful picture! Why don’t you
allow him the chance? Then he would not be lonely this winter and you
would learn to know each other and I am sure----”
Tory stopped and colored.
Sheila Mason was returning her glance, laughing and frowning.
“No romancing, please, Tory, now or ever! If you start I shall refuse
to get out at the evergreen cabin, and have the chauffeur motor me back
home. You girls are pretty good usually, but I observed a tendency
on Dorothy’s part a week or ten days ago to make me figure in a
romance and this afternoon _you_ are drawing perilously near. Please
understand, dear, that romance is over for me forever, and let us never
speak of it. I am ever so much happier with you Girl Scouts than I
dreamed I could be.”
The younger girl bit her lips.
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