s."

The door opened, to show him two very pale girls, each carrying a bundle
of clothes. They were only partially dressed, but wrappers covered their
disarray. Keller went to the clothes closet, emptied it with a sweep and
lift of his arm, and returned, to lead the way downstairs.

"Take a breath before you start. The smoke's bad, but there is no real
danger," he told them as he plunged forward.

At the foot of the stairs he stopped to see that they were following him
closely, then flung open the outer door and let in a rush of cool, sweet
air. In another moment they were outside, safe and unhurt.

Phyllis drew a long breath before she said:

"The house is gone!"

"If there is anything you want particularly from the living room I can
get in through the window," Keller told her.

She shuddered. Flame jets were already shooting out here and there. "I
wouldn't let you go back for the world. We didn't get out too soon."

"No," he agreed.

A sniveling voice behind them broke in: "Where is Mr. Phil? I yain't
seen him yet."

Larrabie swung round on 'Rastus like a flash. "What do you mean? He's at
the round-up, of course."

The little fellow began to bawl: "No, sah. He done come home late last
night. Aftah you-all had gone to bed. He's in his room, tha's where he
is."

Phyllis caught at the arm of Keller to steady her. She was colorless to
the lips.

"Oh, God! Oh, God!" she cried faintly.

The nester pushed her gently into the arms of her guest.

"Take care of her, Bess. I'll get Phil."

He ran round the house to the back. The bedroom occupied by young
Sanderson was on the first floor. The ranger caught up a stick, smashed
the window, and tore out the frame by main strength. Presently he was
inside, groping through the dense smoke toward the bed.

Flames leaped at him from out of it like darting serpents. His hair, his
face, his clothes, caught fire before he had discovered that the bed had
been used, but was now empty. The door into the hall was open, and
through it were pouring billows of smoke. Evidently Phil must have tried
to escape that way and been overpowered.

The young man caught up a towel and wrapped it around his throat and
mouth, then plunged forward into the caldron of the passage. The smoke
choked him and the intense heat peeled his face and made the endurance
of it an agony.

He stumbled over something soft, and discovered with his hands that it
was a body. Smothered and choked, half f