a little entry, dimly lighted by a single gas burner. It was a subterranean passage under the floor to the box office in front of the house. Pushing the beautiful girl before him, Harleigh sprang into this seeming haven of safety, and as the door closed behind him, the angry flames, fanned by the draught, almost licked the clothes from his back. Rapidly fleeing along the passage way, the young couple reached a flight of steps, at the head of which was a door. Harleigh tried in vain to open it, but his efforts were useless.
“Great God!” Harleigh cried; “it is locked.”
Charlotte answered with a moan of anguish, and the sight of her face, ethereally beautiful in its paleness, nerved him to desperation. He stepped back a few paces, and threw his entire weight upon the door. It shivered, swayed, and gave way, admitting them into the box office. There was yet another door to pass through, leading into the lobby, through which the maddened multitude was struggling. Resting a moment, Harleigh again dashed forward and burst the door open against the struggling throng. In an instant the two were in the midst of the frenzied mob, who fought and struggled for life with the desperation of mad men. Men and women were being trampled upon by those behind them, and the former were as terror-stricken as the latter. The glare in the street, and the smoke in the corridor, enhanced the terror of those seeking an exit.
“Cling closely to me,” Harleigh whispered in the ear of Charlotte in his arms. Raising aloft his strong right arm, he tightened his hold upon Charlotte’s waist, and swaying from right to left, fighting down all opposition, was in a minute in the thickest of the throng. The two were lifted off their feet instantly, and carried out into the street with the surging mass.
A carriage was standing near, and into it Harleigh hurried his half-fainting damsel. Directing the coachman to drive with all speed to the address he gave him, Harleigh leaned again into the carriage, and this time dared to snatch a kiss from her pale lips.
“I will see you again, Charlotte, my darling!” Harleigh cried; and bursting into tears, the beautiful girl could only cry,
“You have saved my life; I shall never forget you.”
Again Harleigh ventured to touch his lips to her cheek, and then, closing the door of the carriage, he bade the coachman drive with all haste, and hurried back toward the burning theatre.
A mad and frightened crowd was still pouring from the building, Harleigh never once thought of the great danger he placed himself in, Harleigh dashed in among the struggling men and women, to save more lives, if possible. He struggled manfully with the surging mass, and was soon in the auditorium of the theatre.
But one man and two women were in the auditorium, and bidding them run for their lives, Harleigh seized one of the pillars supporting the family circle gallery, and by a few vigorous muscular efforts raised himself to the top of the railing. Jumping quickly over he rushed toward one of the exits, through which a maddened crowd was struggling in tumult and disorder. In vain he endeavored to quell their frenzy. Forcing his way toward the head of the stairs, his strong arm was exerted to hurl back frightened men and allow the shrieking, shouting mass below to escape. Suddenly a cry came from below that aided him to drive back the uppermost.
“For Goodness sake, turn back; we cannot get out,” was called from the bottom of the blocked and creaking stairway, and immediately there was a momentary relaxation of the downward pressure of the crowd. At this moment Harleigh extricated himself from the crowd, and hurried back into the dress-circle. The parquet below was empty, and people were dropping from the gallery into it, and lowering themselves from tier to tier. The stage was a mass of flames, and the smoke was filling the auditorium and rushing into the corridors. He hurried to the front main entrance of the dress-circle, and there found a mass of men and women shrieking, shouting and crowding madly down upon the living mass below. For a while the passage seemed blocked by a human barrier which could neither move of itself nor give way to pressure from above. Burly men and weak women seemed alike powerless in that dense throng, and to aggravate the panic, people at the turn of the stairs kept calling,