stentorian voice came to them,
as it were, on the wings of fire and smoke--"Stay where you are a
minute--the escape is coming!"

"Thank God!" exclaimed Laidlaw, looking down at the fair head which
rested on his shoulder. The cheeks were deadly white and the eyes
closed, but the pressure of her arms showed that the girl clung to him
for very life. A bright shower of sparks at the moment flew around
them. "Heeven an' pandemonium brought thegither!" he thought as he bent
over to protect her. His face was very near to hers!

"My puir wee doo!" he muttered, and placed a timid kiss upon the pale
cheek, which instantly coloured as if the fires around had suddenly
kindled them.

"O lassie, forgi'e me! I didna mean to do _tha_--I railly--did--not,--
but I couldna help it! I wad hae waited till ye gie'd me leave. But
after a'--what for no? I thought t' ask ye t' gie me the right this
very day. And O lassie! if I might only hope that--"

He stopped, and _something_ induced him to do _that_ again. At the same
moment another mighty roar ascended from the crowd, and the head of the
great fire-escape rose like a solemn spectre through smoke, fire, and
steam, not ten yards from where he stood.

"Hooray!" shouted Tommy, for he felt that they were saved. Laidlaw said
nothing, but sprang to the head of the ladder, got carefully upon it,
and began steadily to descend with Susy. Sam was about to follow with
old Liz, but glanced at Tommy.

"Go first, lad."

"Arter you, mate," said the boy, stepping politely back; "you see,
tigers, like captings, are always last to leave a sinkin' ship."

It was neither the time nor place for ceremony. With something
approaching almost to a laugh, the seaman got on the ladder as smartly
as he would have taken to the shrouds of a ship, and Tommy followed.

Half-way down they met a swirl of smoke, with an occasional tongue of
flame shooting through it from a shattered window. At the same moment
they encountered a brass-helmeted fellow springing boldly up through the
same to the rescue.

"Gang doon again, freen'," shouted Laidlaw, when his heel came in
contact with the helmet. "We're a' safe here."

He paused just a moment to draw the shawl completely over Susy's head
and arms, and to pull her dress well round her feet. Then, burying his
face in the same shawl and shutting his eyes, he descended steadily but
swiftly. For a moment or two the rounds of the ladder felt like heated
ir