THE FIRE. 121 



ing, " Semeelay ! Semeelay ! " Somehow, event- 

 ually, he and his comrades must have got some- 

 where ; for after an interval he returned with 

 empty buckets. Then every blessed fool of a 

 property owner took a whack at his bare shoul- 

 ders as he passed, shrieking hysterically, " Haya ! 

 hay a ! pesi ! pesi ! " and the like to men already 

 doing their best. It was a grand sight ! 



In the meantime the fire itself was roaring 

 away. The old graybeard suddenly ceased cry- 

 ing " maji," and darted forward to where I stood 

 on the bale of cotton. With great but somewhat 

 flurried respect he begged me to descend. I did 

 so, somewhat curious as to what he might be up 

 to, for the cotton was at least two hundred feet 

 from the fire. Immediately he began to tug and 

 heave ; the bale was almost beyond his strength ; 

 but after incredible exertions he lifted one side 

 of it, poised it for a moment, got his shoulder 

 under it, and rolled it over once. Then he darted 

 away and resumed his raucous cry for water. 

 I climbed back again. Thrice more, at intervals, 

 he repeated this performance. The only result 

 was to daub with mud every possible side of that 

 bale. I hope it was his property. 



You must remember that I was observing the 

 heavy artillery of the attack on the conflagra- 



