. Mother's there."

"Your mother's on the island!" Jim fairly shouted the words. "Why, no
one could live on the island before that fire. Good Lord, man! She
must be burned alive!"

For a few seconds the five men stood and stared at one another. The
horror of the situation silenced their tongues. John was the first to
speak.

"You look after Randall," he ordered. "I must get to the island and
find out the worst. Perhaps the rain checked the fire in time."

He then turned and hurried across the blackened waste. He tried to
keep calm, but his heart beat fast, and a great dread possessed him.
What if his mother and Jess were both dead! The thought was appalling.
It drove him forward like a hound. He leaped over sticks and stones in
his headlong speed, dashed through the burned trees, and sprang out
upon the shore of the lake. Here he stopped, and as his eyes rested
upon the island a cry of despair burst from his lips. The fire had
reached the place and swept it from end to end! But what of his mother
and Jess! Were they alive? or were their charred bodies now lying
exposed to the pelting rain? He called again and again at the top of
his voice, but received no reply. The silence was ominous, for from
where he was standing anyone, even in the middle of the small island,
should be able to hear.

The one thing now for him to do was to cross that narrow strip of water
and find out just what had happened. The only way to get there was to
swim, for his boat which he had left that morning at the upper end of
the lake could not have escaped the devouring flames. He could see
that the fire had passed over the very place, close to the water's edge.

Tearing off his shoes and vest, in another minute he was into the lake,
and headed for the island. He was a good swimmer and under ordinary
circumstances the swim would have been mere child's play. But he was
weak after his fearful exertions, and his clothes impeded his progress.
But still he struggled forward, and at length, wearied almost to the
point of exhaustion, his feet touched bottom, and he staggered heavily
out of the water, and fell upon the shore. Again he called, but
received no reply.

After a few minutes' rest, he regained his feet and groped his way
along the shore until he reached the spot where he had landed the women
the night before. Fearfully he turned his eyes up the path leading to
the house, and as he looked, his heart sank within him.