unloose her clasp and drop the child out of her arms upon the bridge. A hissing stream of water had fallen upon the flames, and the shock had taken her by surprise. In a moment the father was himself again.
“Get up, little feller, get up,” he cried, “or if you cannot walk, crawl along the bridge to the next house. I see a fireman there; he will lift you in.”
But at that moment the flames, till now held under some control, burst from an adjoining window, and caught at the woodwork of the bridge. The father yelled in dismay.
“Hurry, little feller, hurry!” he cried. “Get over towards the next house before it is too late.”
But a paralysis seemed to have seized the child; he arose, then stopped, and looking wildly about, shook his head. “I cannot,” he cried, “I cannot.” And the woman laughed, and with a hug of her empty arms, seemed to throw her taunts into the space before her.