oles on the side of the cabin where
the door is and see us plainly, until the cabin is filled with smoke,
which it soon will be."

"But tell me what we are to do now, for I feel if this smoke increases
we shall not be able to speak to one another."

This she said about five minutes after we had remained standing in the
fire-place, with our heads up the chimney.

"Perhaps it will be as well," replied I, "that I do speak so. This
fierce wind drives the smoke to leeward in volumes, but the great
burst of smoke will be when the roof is well on fire. It is now
burning fiercely on the windward side, but we must wait till the
lee-side has caught, and then the volume of smoke will be greater. The
great point is to hit the precise time of opening the door, and
escaping shrouded in a volume of smoke. If too soon, they will
perceive us, and we shall be shot down; if too late, the roof will
fall upon us, and we shall be smothered or burnt. We had better now, I
think, leave this, and be all ready. Our best weapon, if we have to
fight our way, will be an axe. Let us each take one, and, by now going
near to the door, and putting our mouths to one of the loop-holes, we
shall breathe freer, and unbar the door at the right time. Do you
agree with me?"

"You are right," said she; "you are a _man_, and I am a _woman_."

We left the fire-place, and having felt for and found the axes, we
went near the door, and put our mouths to the loop-holes below; and
the smoke passing above them enabled us to breathe freer. I looked out
and perceived that, with the exception of about six yards to leeward
of the cabin, there was a dense volume of smoke rolling along the
ground for a long distance, and that if we could only once gain it
without being perceived, we should probably be saved. I therefore
unbarred the door, drew the bolt, and held it in my hand, all ready
for a start. The cabin was now in flames in every part as well as the
roof. I touched my mistress, and then took her hand in mine, watching
at the loop-hole. At last, when the heat was almost unbearable, an
eddy of the wind drove back the smoke close to the lee-side of the
cabin, and all was dark. I jumped up, opened the door, and dragged my
mistress after me; we walked out into the black mass completely hid
from our enemies, and then running hand-in-hand as fast as we could to
leeward in the centre of the smoke, we found ourselves at least one
hundred yards from the cabin without the I