-he beheld her hands outstretched for
help--"Let me past!--let me past!--ye cowards! ye cowards!" cried he,
as he eagerly forced his way through the crowd. He rushed into the
door, from which the dense smoke and the sparks were issuing as from a
great furnace. There was a thrill o' horror through the crowd, for
they kenned his character, and they kenned also his fondness for
Katie--and no one expected to see him in life again. But, in less than
ten seconds from his rushing in at the door, he was seen to spring
forward to the window where Katie stood--he flung his arm round her
waist, and, in an instant, both disappeared--but, within a quarter of
a minute, he rushed out at the street-door, through the black smoke
and the thick sparks, wi' the bonny creature that he adored in his
arms. O doctor, had ye heard the shout that burst frae the
multitude!--there was not one amongst them at that moment that couldna
have hugged Jamie to his heart. His hands were sore burned, and on
several places his clothes were on fire. Katie was but little hurt;
but, on finding herself on the street, she cast an anxious and
despairing look towards the window from which she had been snatched,
and again wringing her hands, exclaimed, in accents of bitterness that
go through my heart to this day--

"My father! oh, my father! Is there no help for him?--shall my father
perish?"

"The rope!--gie me the rope!" cried Jamie.

He snatched it from the hand of a bystander, and again rushed into the
smoking ruins. The consternation of the crowd became greater, and
their anxiety more intense than before. Full three minutes passed, and
nothing was seen of him. The crowded street became as silent as death;
even those who were running backward and forward, carrying water, for
a time stood still. The suspense was agonising. At length he appeared
at the window, with the sick man wrapped up in the bedclothes, and
holding him to his side with his right arm around him. The hope and
fear of the people became indescribable. Never did I witness such a
scene--never may I witness such again! Having fastened one end of the
rope to the bed, he flung the other from the window to the street;
and, grasping it with his left hand, he drew himself out of the
window, with Katie's father in his arm, and, crossing his feet around
the rope, he slid down to the street, bearing his burden with him!
Then, sir, the congratulations o' the multitude were unbounded. Every
one was anxio