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e of them had come out of the burning house almost fainting from exposure to heat and smoke. Indeed, Mason _had_ fainted; but the fresh air soon revived him, and after a glass of brandy he recovered sufficiently to be fit for duty again in half an hour. Frank and Baxmore were the last to be relieved. When two fresh men came up and took the branch they descended the stairs, and a strange descent it was. The wooden stair, or flight of open steps, which they had to descend first, was burnt to charcoal, and looked as if it would fall to pieces with a touch. "I hope it'll bear," said Frank to Baxmore, who went first. "Bear or not bear, we _must_ go down," said Baxmore. He went unhesitatingly upon it, and although the steps bent ominously, there was enough of sound wood to sustain him. The second stair, also of wood, had not been quite so much charred; but so great was the quantity of water poured continuously into the house, that it formed a regular water-course of the staircase, down which heaps of plaster and bricks and burnt rubbish had been washed, and had stuck here and there, forming obstructions on which the water broke and round which it roared in the form of what might have been a very respectable mountain-torrent, with this striking difference, that the water which rushed down it was _hot_, in consequence of its having passed through such glowing materials. The lower staircase was a stone one--the worst of all stairs in a fire, owing to its liability to crack at its connection with the wall, from the combined influence of heat and cold water. Just as the two men reached the head of it, it fell, without warning, in a mass of ruins. "Never mind," said Baxmore, "the fire-escape is still at the window." So saying, he ran through the smoke and reached it. Frank was about to follow, when he observed a shut door. Without having any definite intention, he laid hold of the handle, and found that it was locked on the inside--he knew that, for he saw the end of the key sticking through the key-hole. At once he threw his weight on it, and burst it open. To his amazement, he found a little old lady sitting quietly, but in great trepidation, in an easy-chair, partially clothed in very scanty garments, which she had evidently thrown on in great haste. "Go away, young man!" she screamed, drawing a shawl tightly round her. "Go away, I say! how _dare_ you, sir?" "Why, ma'am," cried Frank, striding up to h
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