Green Timber Thoroughbreds

Old Dave Hinch awoke with the bitter trickle of smoke in his nose; and his first idea was that he must have fallen asleep with his pipe in his mouth, lost his grip on it and set fire to his beard. That appendage, and the whiskers and mustache which mingled with it, were dear to him; and rightly so, for they covered everything of his face except his nose and eyes and receding strip of brow. So he clapped a hand to his beard even before he sat up, and opened his eyes. Beard and whiskers and mustache were all there, and all right. Reassured on this point, yet still distressingly conscious of the tang of smoke, he hoisted head and shoulders from the pillow and opened his eyes. The room was in utter darkness, for the blinds were down. With fumbling hands he struck a match, and lit the lamp which stood on the chair beside the bed. Then he saw something—the same thing that he had smelled—a thin, bluish haze in the close and chilly air.

Old Dave Hinch forgot all about his whiskers, and leapt out of bed with an agility which belied their venerable hoariness. He slid his legs into trousers and jammed his bare feet into boots and jumped to the door. He snatched it open, admitting a stifling roll of smoke which instantly enveloped him. He retreated, slithered across the bed and dived to the nearest window. He tore town the blind, threw up the lower sash, and thrust forth his head.

Smoke oozed out past his shoulders into the cold starshine. He yelled “Fire! Fire! Help! Help!” at the top of his voice until his throat ached. He got no response. All his neighbors were sound asleep, of course.

He withdrew from the open window and saw the draft between door and window had extinguished the narrow flame of the lamp. He stumbled and fumbled his way to the door, through choking swirls of heavy smoke. He sank to his hands and knees and looked down the narrow staircase with smarting eyes. He saw a lurid, pulsing glow away down, behind swirling depth of hot and acrid fumes, and whisperings and cracklings and a sound like the snoring of many sleepers came up to his stricken ears.