he had been a sluggard, and surely Cuthbert could never be
called that; so, with a toss of the blankets, he scrambled to his feet;
then, remembering that he was in his socks, he hastened to snatch up his
boots and pull them on.

All this only took a few seconds of time, but during the brief period
Cuthbert was dazed with the awful clamor that was making the welkin ring
without, for it seemed as though every known sound had been accumulated
to help carry out the idea that Gabriel was blowing his last trumpet,
with the end of the world close at hand.

He knew men were shouting madly, and from the voices it was plain that
those who thus gave tongue were both Cree Indians and Canadian
_voyageurs_, for the latter had gone back to their French tongue with
the advent of excitement--then it struck the Virginia lad that another
sound which he had heard was very much along the line of the roaring
flames, and immediately the conviction forced itself upon him that in
some manner the forest close by had been fired, perhaps by some enemy of
the factor, such as Dubois or Stackpole, and that there was danger of
the conflagration leaping the barrier and attacking the houses within
the compound.

No sooner had he thrust his nose outside the tent than he gave utterance
to an exclamation of mingled surprise and consternation.

It was a fire all right, but not of the species he had suspected--the
roaring sound was produced by the wind whipping the flames into the
angry flood, but it was hewn timber, not erect trees, that were ablaze,
one of the houses, in fact, with an end a seething mass of flames.

Cuthbert knew not what to think, save that possibly some enemy had done
this; but he was quick to lend his aid to save whatever the contents
might be.

Accordingly he hastened in that quarter.

Already he had discovered that while he slept a storm had swept down
upon the region of the Saskatchewan, and was howling through the forest
and over the waters with demoniac glee, though as yet not a drop of rain
had fallen, or a flake of snow descended, though one or the other must
come in time.

But that mad breeze was a bad thing for a fire, since it would whip the
flames until they tore loose from all human control, to carry ruin in
their train.

Cuthbert was not alone in his rush toward the burning building, since
from various directions human figures were to be seen centering in that
quarter, for the employes of the fur company were cer