They stared at her with all the wonder of uncomprehending minds as she
rose with a resolute air to confront them; but as the full meaning of
her words penetrated their benumbed brains, slowly, man by man, they
crept away to peer about in the barns, and among the clustering shadows
for the man who had been thus denounced. Hammersmith followed them, and
for a few minutes nothing but chase was in any man's mind. That part of
the building in which lay hidden the room of shadows shook, tottered,
and fell, loading the heavens with sparks and lighting up the pursuit
now become as wild and reckless as the scene itself. To Miss Demarest's
eyes, just struggling back to sight and hearing from the nethermost
depths of unconsciousness, it looked like the swirling flight of spirits
lost in the vortex of hell. For one wild moment she thought that she
herself had passed the gates of life and was one of those unhappy souls
whirling over a gulf of flame. The next moment she realised her mistake.
A kindly voice was in her ear, a kindly hand was pressing a half-burned
blanket about her.

"Don't stare so," the voice said. "It is only people routing out Quimby.
They say he set fire to the tavern himself, to hide his crime and do
away with the one man who knew about it. I know that he locked me in
because I--Oh, see! they've got him! they've got him! and with a gun in
his hand!"

The friendly hand fell; both women started upright panting with terror
and excitement. Then one of them drew back, crying in a tone of sudden
anguish, "Why, no! It's Jake, Jake!"

* * * * *

Daybreak! and with it Doctor Golden, who at the first alarm had ridden
out post-haste without waiting to collect his jury. As he stepped to the
ground before the hollow shell and smoking pile which were all that
remained to mark the scene of yesterday's events, he looked about among
the half-clad, shivering men and women peering from the barns and
stables where they had taken refuge, till his eyes rested on Hammersmith
standing like a sentinel before one of the doors.

"What's this? what's this?" he cried, as the other quickly approached.
"Fire, with a man like you in the house?"

"Fire because I was in the house. They evidently felt obliged to get rid
of me somehow. It's been a night of great experiences for me. When they
found I was not likely to perish in the flames they resorted to
shooting. I believe that my forehead shows where one bul