, suddenly glowed with dull red, which
was brightened by flashes.

Colonel Forrester was checked for the moment, as he tried to climb in,
but calling on Samson and his son to follow, he rushed on.

Samson was second, and Fred had reached the sill, when there was a
bright flame, which illumined the smoke-filled room, and he uttered a
cry for help, and hesitated, for he had caught a glimpse of those who
had preceded him lying prone upon the floor.

The help was quickly rendered, a dozen stalwart troopers dashing in,
half to come struggling out choking and blinded.

What followed, Fred hardly recalled. He knew that he had leaped down to
try and drag his father out, when something seemed to seize him by the
throat, a terrible dizziness robbed him of sense, and the next thing he
comprehended was that he was lying on the grass, with a man bathing his
face, and that for a few minutes he could not speak or make out what it
all meant.

"Better, my lad?" said a well-known voice; and he recognised the face of
the general bent down over him, and saw that the morion he wore gleamed
in the bright light cast upon it.

"My father!" cried Fred, as his understanding grew more clear.

"Safe. He has just recovered a little. Your servant, too. Yes; here
he is."

"Fred, my boy," said a husky voice. "Thank Heaven! he is safe."

"Safe? Yes, father; only a little giddy. You have escaped?"

"Yes; they dragged us out in time. Look at the poor Hall."

Fred turned to see that from half the windows the flames were rushing
out with a fearful violence, the centre of the old building being now a
glowing furnace, whose flames fluttered and roared and leaped, while the
wings were rapidly being eaten into by the flames.

"And we can save nothing, Hedley," said the colonel, sadly.

"Yes, sir, our lives. We can do no more. Pretty well that we got you
out, and that the prisoners left the place."

Fred had risen, and was standing by the general's side, looking at him
wildly.

"Well?" said the latter. "What are you thinking?"

"The wounded, sir--the dead?" said Fred, huskily.

"There were no dead. The wounded were all brought out, I feel sure. My
boy, we have done our best. Forrester, are you well enough to move?"

"Yes; better now."

"You see the place is doomed. It is a sad affair; but we are guiltless.
I will place the prisoners in your hands. See that they are
courteously treated, and send them off under the escort of