"How'd he get hurt?"
"Oh, the fire, same's you."
"How?" insisted Mark.
"Oh, he went up again after a fella when it was too late--"
"Billy, was it me?"
"Ugh huh!" nodded Billy.
Mark was so still that Billy was frightened. When he looked up worried
he saw that a great tear had escaped out from under the lashes which
were growing nicely now, and had rolled down Mark's cheek. Mark
crying!
In consternation Billy knelt beside the bed: "Aw Gee! Mark, now don't you feel like that. He's gettin' all right now
they hope, an' Gee! He was great! You oughtta seen him!"
"Tell me about it," said Mark huskily.
"He just ran up that there ladder when it was shaking like a leaf, an'
the wall beginning to buckle under it, an' he picked you up. Fer a
minute there the flames kinda blew back, and we seen ya both, and then
the roof caved, an' you all went down. But when we gotcha out he was
layin' right atop of ya, 'ith his arms spread out, trying t'cover ya!
Gee, it was great! Everybody was just as still, like he was
preachin'!"
After a long time Mark said: "Billy, did you ever hear the words, 'Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friend?'"
"Yep," said Billy, "That's in the Bible I think, if 'taint in
Shakespeare. Miss Lynn said it over last Sunday. She says a lot of
things from Shakespeare sometimes, and I kinda get'em mixed."
But Mark did not talk any more that day. He had a great deal to think
about.
But so did Billy, for looking out the window in the direction of the
parsonage he had sighted the big Shafton car stopping before the door
that morning. "Aw Gee!" he said. "That sissy-guy again? Now, how'm I
gonta get rid of him this time? Gee! Just when Mark's gettin' well too!
If life ain't just one thing after another!"