A Daughter of the Land

"My God!" he muttered. "Too hot! Got to cool that down."

Then he saw the tank and the dangling hose, and remembered that he

had not filled the boiler. Taking down the hose, he opened the

watercock, stuck in the nozzle, and turned on the water full

force. Windows were broken across the street. Parts of the fire-

box, boiler, and fire flew everywhere. The walls blew out, the

roof lifted and came down, the fire raged among the new, dry

timbers of the mill.

When her windows blew in, Kate was thrown from her bed to the

floor. She lay stunned a second, then dragged herself up to look

across the street. There was nothing where the low white expanse

of roof had spread an hour before, while a red glare was creeping

everywhere over the ground. She ran to George's room and found it

empty. She ran to the kitchen, calling him, and found the back

door standing open. She rushed back to her room and began trying

to put on her dress over her nightrobe. She could not control her

shaking fingers, while at each step she cut her feet on broken

glass. She reached the front door as the children came screaming

with fright. In turning to warn them about the glass, she

stumbled on the top step, pitched forward headlong, then lay

still. The neighbours carried her back to her bed, called the

doctor, and then saved all the logs in the yard they could. The

following day, when the fire had burned itself out, the undertaker

hunted assiduously, but nothing could be found to justify a

funeral.