in the second story, is my child!"
exclaimed a woman, wringing her hands, and imploring some one to go to
the rescue of her little one.

The broad sheets of fire were flying in the direction of the chamber in
which the child was sleeping, and all hope of its being saved seemed
gone. Occasionally the wind would lift the pall of smoke, and show that
the work of destruction was not yet complete. At last a long ladder was
brought, and one end placed under the window of the room. A moment more
and a bystander mounted the ladder and ascended in haste to the window.
The smoke met him as he raised the sash, and he cried out, "All is
lost!" and returned to the ground without entering the room.

Another sweep of the wind showed that the destroying element had not
yet made its final visit to that part of the doomed building. The
mother, seeing that all hope of again meeting her child in this world
was gone, wrung her hands and seemed inconsolable with grief.

At this juncture, a man was seen to mount the ladder, and ascend with
great rapidity. All eyes were instantly turned to the figure of this
unknown individual as it disappeared in the cloud of smoke escaping
from the window. Those who a moment before had been removing furniture,
as well as the idlers who had congregated at the ringing of the bells,
assembled at the foot of the ladder, and awaited with breathless
silence the reappearance of the stranger, who, regardless of his own
safety, had thus risked his life to save another's. Three cheers broke
the stillness that had fallen on the company, as the brave man was seen
coming through the window and slowly descending to the ground, holding
under one arm the inanimate form of the child. Another cheer, and then
another, made the welkin ring, as the stranger, with hair burned and
eyebrows closely singed, fainted at the foot of the ladder. But the
child was saved.

The stranger was Jerome. As soon as he revived, he shrunk from every
eye, as if he feared they would take from him the freedom which he had
gone through so much to obtain.

The next day, the fugitive took a vessel, and the following morning
found himself standing on the free soil of Canada. As his foot pressed
the shore, he threw himself upon his face, kissed the earth, and
exclaimed, "O God! I thank thee that I am a free man."

CHAPTER XXVII

TRUE FREEDOM.

The history of the African race is God's illuminated clock, set in the
dark steeple of time. The ne