For he knew that the fire was roaring down toward them, the wind having risen to a gale. The crash of falling trees and the snapping of the fire was like the sound from a battlefront. The noise was almost deafening.

"Is it far? Is it far?" gasped Amanda in his ear.

"Too far for comfort. But keep your heart up."

As the man spoke, a blazing brand swung through the air and came down, right on Amanda's shoulders. Carolyn May shrieked. Joseph Stagg brushed off the burning stick.

Cherry mounted another small ridge and then they clattered down into a little hollow where there was a slough beside the road. The water was green and stagnant, but it was water.

The man pulled in the hard-pressed horse and leaped down, pa.s.sing the reins to Amanda. He whipped off his coat and dipped it in the mudhole.

He drew it out dripping with water and slime.

"Look out, here! Have to shut your eyes!" he warned his two companions on the seat of the buckboard, and threw the saturated coat over Miss Amanda's head. The dripping garment sheltered Carolyn May as well.

"Now, good horse!" he yelled to Cherry, leaping back to the seat.

"_Gid-ap!_"

The horse started up the slope. Another swirling brand came down upon them. Joseph Stagg fought it off with his bare hand. His shirt sleeve caught fire and he was painfully burned on the forearm before he could smother the blaze.

It was growing so hot now that the leaves on the trees curled and were blasted before the flames actually reached them. Behind the fleeing buckboard the conflagration was on both sides of the narrow path. They were barely keeping ahead of the enemy.

Another flaming brand fell, landing on Cherry's back. The horse squealed and leaped forward at a pace which Mr. Stagg could not control. Maddened by the burn, Cherry had taken the bit in his teeth and was running away.

The man threw down the reins. He could do nothing towards r.e.t.a.r.ding the frightened horse's pace. Indeed, he did not want to stop him.

His left arm he flung around Miss Amanda and the child, and with his right hand clung to the rocking seat of the careening buckboard.

The wet steaming coat saved the woman and the child from injury. More than one brand settled on it, and the garment only smoked. But Joseph Stagg was painfully burned.

On and on dashed the maddened horse. It was a mercy, indeed, that the buckboard was not overturned.

Sparks rose from burning brush clumps and flew over them in a shower.

Prince yelped and whined pitifully, but, like Mr. Stagg, he hung on.

The burning and smouldering brands showered upon them. Bushes broke out into flame in advance, and on either side of the path. It was as though the combustion was spontaneous.

With a roaring like the charge of a field of artillery, a great ma.s.s of flame flew high over their heads. The tall trees were on fire on all sides. They were in the heart of the conflagration!

Joseph Stagg had lost all count of time. The forest road might still extend ahead of them for a mile, for all he knew.

But suddenly they broke cover, Cherry still galloping wildly, and plunged down an open ravine to the edge of a lake of sparkling water.

"Bless me! The lake! the lake!" hoa.r.s.ely shouted the man.

The walls of the ravine sheltered them from smoke and fire for a moment, but the brands still fell. Cherry had halted on the edge of the lake, but Joseph Stagg urged him on into the water, flank deep. The sh.o.r.e was narrow and afforded little s.p.a.ce for refuge. He lifted Amanda and the child bodily from the seat and dropped them into the water.

"We're safe now," he said hoa.r.s.ely, jumping in himself, and holding Carolyn May and Amanda. "We've got water enough here, thanks be! Hang on to me, Mandy. I'm not going to let you get away-no more, never!"

And by the way in which the woman clung to his arm it was evident that she did not propose to lose him.

They looked back at the roaring wall of flame. The forest was a seething furnace. Smoke drifted out over the lake in a heavy cloud. Dead embers showered about them. Prince rolled and burrowed in the damp sand at the edge of the water. Cherry filled his throat with a long, cool, satisfying draught.

"My, Uncle Joe! you are just the bravest man!" declared Carolyn May, finding her voice. "Isn't he, Miss Mandy? And, see, his arm is all burned. Dear me, we must get home to Aunty Rose and let her do it up for him."

CHAPTER XXVII-"TWO'S COMPANY"

Towards the east the forest tract was completely burned to the banks of Codler's Creek. As the wind which had sprung up had driven the fire westward, there was little danger of the flames pressing nearer than the creek to Sunrise Cove and The Corners.

Joseph Stagg led the horse out of the water and advised Miss Amanda and Carolyn May to get into the seat of the buckboard again. Then he set forth, leading the horse along the narrow beach, while Prince followed wearily in the rear.

It was a rough route they followed, but the blackened forest was still too hot for them to pa.s.s through, had they been able to find a path.

This was a lonely strip of sh.o.r.e and they saw no living soul but themselves.

Some trees were still smouldering along the creek banks. They could see these fires when they crossed the mouth of the stream, for the dusk had fallen and the flames sparkled like fireflies.

It was a long tramp, and the horse, the dog, and the man were alike wearied. Carolyn May went fast asleep with her head pillowed in Miss Amanda's lap.

The latter and Joseph Stagg talked much. Indeed, there was much for them to say after all these years of silence.

The woman, worn and scorched of face, looked down on the s.m.u.tted and sweating man with an expression in her eyes that warmed him to the marrow. She was proud of him. And the gaze of love and longing that the hardware merchant turned upon Amanda Parlow would have amazed those people that believed he had consideration and thought only for business.

In these few hours of alarm and close intimacy the man and the woman had leaped all the barriers time and pride had set up. Nothing further could keep Joseph Stagg and Amanda Parlow apart. And yet they never for one instant discussed the original cause of their estrangement. That was a dead issue.

The refugees reached The Corners about nine o'clock. Jedidiah Parlow had hobbled up to the store and was just then organising a party of searchers to go to the rescue of the hardware dealer and those of whom he had set out in search.

The village turned out _en ma.s.se_ to welcome the trio who had so miraculously escaped the fire. Aunty Rose's relief knew no bounds. Mr.

Parlow was undeniably glad to see his daughter safe; otherwise, he would never have overlooked the pitiable state his horse was in. Poor Cherry would never be the same unblemished animal again.

"Well, I vum" he said to Joseph Stagg, "you done it! Better'n I could, too, I reckon. I'll take the hoss home. You comin' with me, Mandy?" Then he saw the burns on the younger man's shoulders and arms. "The good land of Jehoshaphat! here's work for you to do, Mandy. If you air any sort of a nurse, I reckon you got your hands full right here with Joe Stagg," he added, with some pride in his daughter's ability. "Phew! them's bad-lookin' burns!"

"They are indeed," agreed Aunty Rose.

It was a fact that Mr. Stagg was in a bad state. Carolyn May had suggested that Aunty Rose would dress his burns, but Miss Amanda would allow n.o.body to do that but herself.

When the curious and sympathetic neighbours had gone and Miss Amanda was still busy making Joseph Stagg comfortable in the sitting-room, Aunty Rose came out into the kitchen, where she had already bathed and helped Carolyn May to undress, and where the little girl was now sleepily eating her supper of bread and milk.

"Well, wonders don't ever cease, I guess," she said, more to herself than to her little confidant. "Who'd have thought it!"

"Who'd have thought what, Aunty Rose?" inquired Carolyn May.

"Your uncle and Mandy Parlow have made it up," breathed the woman, evidently much impressed by the wonder of it.

"Yes, indeed!" cried the child. "Isn't it nice? They aren't mad at each other any more."

"No, I should say they're not," Aunty Rose observed with grimness. "Far from it. It's a fact! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. They haven't got eyes for anybody but each other."