CHAPTER XXI. A TRAGEDY. Richard's heart was full as he hurried away from Mr. Warren's. At last and unexpectedly his hopes were to be realized. He would have run for very joy, had it not been on the streets of the city. He found himself going over in his mind as he had so many times before the plans of a great building. As he passed along the streets near the mission, he noticed groups of men standing in front of the different saloons and that they looked angrily at him as he passed. He could not understand it. He found Hi Mars and John waiting for him at the Mission. "Mr. Harrison," said Hi, "the devil is to pay now for sure." "What do you mean, Hi?" asked Richard. "I saw as I came along that the men in front of the saloon were stirred up and looked angrily at me." "It don't seem possible," said John, "but the Chief of Police has given orders that all the saloons and gambling dens in this district be closed at eleven o'clock, and the proprietors are swearing vengeance on you." "Oh, they'll scowl and swear but never do me injury," laughed Richard, as he saw the look of concern upon the faces of the men. "They won't do it openly, Mr. Harrison," said Hi, "but the worthless beggars are mean enough to do you dirt when you can't defend yourself and when none can see them." "Hi is right, Mr. Harrison," said John. "I know them well and a worse gang than Bill Schenk and his pals don't walk on this here earth. A decent man's life is no more to them than a snake." "Well," said Richard to quiet their fears, "when I go out at night I will keep watch for them." The meeting of the men that night was full of hope. The order of the police was a result that none had really expected would come. "We've got them on the run," said Hi, as he closed a stirring speech, "and all we need to do is to follow so close after them as to keep them kicking up dirt." The men applauded the graphic appeals that different ones of their number gave and separated that night, "with a Vesuvius burning in each one of the boys," as one of the men put it. At midnight the cry of fire rang through the streets. As men awoke, they saw the night was lighted up. "It is the mission! It is the mission!" The shout was caught up and passed from street to street. John Miller came hurrying down the street with a horror tugging at his heart. "It is done by those that hate the work of Mr. Harrison," said John to himself. "He No one had seen the missionary. must be in the building, but no one can reach him now." John heard these words of the bystanders. The night when Richard found him in the saloon flashed before him. Only a moment he hesitated and then sprang toward the door. Richard slept on the second floor. As the door was broken in the smoke poured out. "There is no use, Miller, it is too late," fearless men urged. But John disappeared in the smoke. The people waited breathlessly. Five min utes passed. It seemed an hour. "Both are lost," and strong men wept as they said it. Some tried to enter but the smoke drove them back. John had opened the stair door and the flames burst out; but the draft cleared away the smoke so that he could draw his breath. Up he leaped over the burning steps. As he entered Richard's room, he stumbled upon his body on the floor. Catching it up the fisherman started down the flaming stairway. The half consumed steps cracked under the weight. John's clothing were burning. His shoes were shriveling up. In the mission room he felt his strength leaving him he struggled on and fell with his burden just inside the door. Hi Mars and other strong and willing hands drew them forth and a moment more the roof fell in. Tenderly they carried them to John Miller's home, where a physician was soon in attend ance. The people waited in the streets to hear the doctor's report and talked over, as they waited, the fire and its cause. Now and then they would point toward the saloons and the steru look deepened upon their faces. |