or hesitation glide from tree to tree in
one undeviating course, was possible only to an experienced woodsman. To
keep his reason and insight so clear as to be able in the midst of this
bewildering confusion to shape that course so as to intersect the wild
and unknown tract of an inexperienced, frightened wanderer belonged to
Low, and Low alone. He was making his way against the wind towards
the fire. He had reasoned that she was either in comparative safety to
windward of it, or he should meet her being driven towards him by it,
or find her succumbed and fainting at its feet. To do this he must
penetrate the burning belt, and then pass under the blazing dome. He
was already upon it; he could see the falling fire dropping like rain or
blown like gorgeous blossoms of the conflagration across his path. The
space was lit up brilliantly. The vast shafts of dull copper cast no
shadow below, but there was no sign nor token of any human being. For a
moment the young man was at fault. It was true this hidden heart of the
forest bore no undergrowth; the cool matted carpet of the aisles seemed
to quench the glowing fragments as they fell. Escape might be difficult,
but not impossible, yet every moment was precious. He leaned against a
tree, and sent his voice like a clarion before him: "Teresa!" There was
no reply. He called again. A faint cry at his back from the trail he had
just traversed made him turn. Only a few paces behind him, blinded and
staggering, but following like a beaten and wounded animal, Teresa,
halted, knelt, clasped her hands, and dumbly held them out before her.
"Teresa!" he cried again, and sprang to her side.

She caught him by the knees, and lifted her face imploringly to his.

"Say that again!" she cried, passionately. "Tell me it was Teresa you
called, and no other! You have come back for me! You would not let me
die here alone!"

He lifted her tenderly in his arms, and cast a rapid glance around
him. It might have been his fancy, but there seemed a dull glow in the
direction he had come.

"You do not speak!" she said. "Tell me! You did not come here to seek
her?"

"Whom?" he said quickly.

"Nellie!"

With a sharp cry he let her slip to the ground. All the pent-up
agony, rage, and mortification of the last hour broke from him in that
inarticulate outburst. Then, catching her hands again, he dragged her to
his level.

"Hear me!" he cried, disregarding the whirling smoke and the fiery
baptism th