Stadium High School - Tahoma Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

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26 THE T that night, a'ravin' and out of his head. Some guessed, that was in the hunch, but most never knew why it was that, after the wind turned 'round an' the Fire was beat, an' after he'd got well again, Fred never grinned at a joke or made fun with the rest of the boys. He hated too much, an' he got punished fur it, an' that's the point of the story. E.m'ly an' Joe was married that year, an' moved away to the city-but they never AI-IOMA knew, either, at all. Outside there was the crunching of feet on the gravelly road, and through the window I saw the figures of men in the moonlight. I knew what it was- they were taking Fred home! I turn- ed to Dad. HAnd George-P I began, a choke in my voice. Fred gets a funeraif' said Dad, as he moved to the door: but George -they don't know- the Fire does. XrQT3X Y ,, x . -. R 1 2 'E -Q Ss sg in gs - -e it ffn ml Vg, lrl11 e Virijjfgif Q

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TI-IE TAI-IOMA 25 back-fire couldn't seem to get started against the wind, an' I forgot it in jest about no-time. If on'y I'cl stop- ped, or-but it ain't no use to talk now. mlqhe Fire came on, an' our sickly back-fire was simply et up in a jiffy. The slashin' held the Fire for a while, but it couldn't last long. The wind sent big streamers of flame 'cross the line, an' millions of burnin' pieces Hew over, an' long strings of fire swept the ground and sneaked along on the logs. We saw 'twas no use, an' crossed over the slashin' and into the woods beyond. We was all chokin' an' gaspin' an' burned an' tired, but we didn't dare stop fur a minute. We made fur the woods, meanin' to go on fur a ways an' try ag'in somewheres else. I got off from the rest, somehow, just about dusk-though it never got real dark, on account of the Fire-an' got muddled up ,mongst the trees. I kept stumblin' on, a-hittin' 'gainst trees an' trippin' my feet on all manner of things, till it got purty dark in the brush. And, all on a suddent, I looked over a log, an' there was Fred Lane a standin', an' a lookin' an' peerin' ata thing on the ground by a stump! I-Ie was talkin' somethin', but I coulcln't tell what, cause the Fire was a'roarin' so loud. I got closer, till he was jest behind a manzanita from me. An' then I heard what he said, though I hardly could see him in the smoke and the darkness. N 'Joe,' he said, 'You hear it?- It's comin'! Goodbye, Joe! I'm goin', Joe-' No, I'm not gonna tell you all that he said-I donlt like even to think about it. It showed how much like a beast a man can get when he hates. There was no answer after he spoke, an' right quick I jumped up an' says, ilrred, Oh, Fredl' And he jest whirls around an, grabs up a rock an' slung it straight at the sound. It hit me square, I guess, an' I must 'a' crumpled right up where I was. The next thing I knowed the bunch was around, an' we was fu'ther off from the Fire. But it had jumped over the line we made, an, was comin, onto us fast. An' the fust thing I said was, 'Fredl' And I looked around quick, an, there was Fred, sure enough, holdin' a light close by me. The boys had thought I was hit by a branch, an' Fred never knew it was me that yelled at him, though he knew after, o'course, that somebody heard. H 'I'm herel' he says, an' his voice sounded funny-my blood turned cold in a minute. H 'An' Joey I said, gettin' up, sort 0' weakly. An' there was bustle off to one side, and here come a fellow a-leadin' of Joe! An' that minute I looked around quick at Fred, a'wond- erin' if I'd been a'dreamin'. I-le'd dropped the light, an-' stood there like a man made of wood, starin' at Joe like he was mad. Then he stepped up close to him, shakin' an' tremblin', an' he says, husky-like, 'Joe-Joe-is it you?' Then Joe looks at him an' nods his head-it was Joe, jest tired like the rest, but nothin, else Wrong! But Fred-he jest turned 'round an' screamed out one word, an' I pray I may never again hear such a voice as his was. I-Ie turned towards the Fire, a-blazin' an' roarin', nearer an' nearer, an' he stretched out his hands, an' all he said was 'GEORGEJ' uYou see, it was George all the time that he'd left in the darkness to die in the Fire. The boys found me, after Fred ran away, but they didn't get George, an' he wa'n't more-:'n a rod off. And they carried Fred home

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9 W ., f V r t I . THE CASTLE But stay, these walls, these ivy-clad arcades, These moulalering plinths, these sad and blaclgenezl shafts, These vague entablatures, this crumbling frieze, These shattered cornices, this wreck, this ruin, These stones alas! these gray stones-are they all, All of the famed anzl the' colossal left By the corrosive hours io Fate anal me. -Poe