pson?" I asks.

"She hasn't been seen," says one of the firemen. "She sleeps up-
stairs. We've tried to get in, but we can't, and our company hasn't
got any ladders yet."

I runs around to the light of the big blaze, and pulls the Handbook
out of my inside pocket. I kind of laughed when I felt it in my hands
--I reckon I was some daffy with the sensation of excitement.

"Herky, old boy," I says to it, as I flipped over the pages, "you
ain't ever lied to me yet, and you ain't ever throwed me down at a
scratch yet. Tell me what, old boy, tell me what!" says I.

I turned to "What to do in Case of Accidents," on page 117. I run my
finger down the page, and struck it. Good old Herkimer, he never
overlooked anything! It said:

Suffocation from Inhaling Smoke or Gas.--There is nothing better
than flaxseed. Place a few seed in the outer corner of the eye.

I shoved the Handbook back in my pocket, and grabbed a boy that was
running by.

"Here," says I, giving him some money, "run to the drug store and
bring a dollar's worth of flaxseed. Hurry, and you'll get another one
for yourself. Now," I sings out to the crowd, "we'll have Mrs.
Sampson!" And I throws away my coat and hat.

Four of the firemen and citizens grabs hold of me. It's sure death,
they say, to go in the house, for the floors was beginning to fall
through.

"How in blazes," I sings out, kind of laughing yet, but not feeling
like it, "do you expect me to put flaxseed in a eye without the eye?"

I jabbed each elbow in a fireman's face, kicked the bark off of one
citizen's shin, and tripped the other one with a side hold. And then I
busted into the house. If I die first I'll write you a letter and tell
you if it's any worse down there than the inside of that yellow house
was; but don't believe it yet. I was a heap more cooked than the
hurry-up orders of broiled chicken that you get in restaurants. The
fire and smoke had me down on the floor twice, and was about to shame
Herkimer, but the firemen helped me with their little stream of water,
and I got to Mrs. Sampson's room. She'd lost conscientiousness from
the smoke, so I wrapped her in the bed clothes and got her on my
shoulder. Well, the floors wasn't as bad as they said, or I never
could have done it--not by no means.

I carried her out fifty yards from the house and laid her on the
grass. Then, of course, every one of them other twenty-two plaintiff's
to the lady's hand crowded around with tin dipp