ny waves, and the roaring of the fire through the
woods, the sound of trees crashing to the earth, and the millions of
sparks, with blazing bits of wood, were carried a great distance
through the air. Some of these flaming brands fell on the raft on which
Nick Ribsam stood, and they continually dropped hissing into the water
around him.

The problem was, how the children had escaped thus far; and as the
sturdy lad stood out on the pond with the long limb grasped in his hand,
staring around him, he could not but wonder how it was he had been
preserved after driving directly into the forest when it was literally
aflame from one end to the other.

But these thoughts were only for the moment; he had left Nellie, not
expecting to be out of her sight, much less beyond her hearing, and she
had vanished as mysteriously as if the earth had opened and swallowed
her up.

And yet he could not believe she was lost. She had proven that she was
not the weak girl to do anything rashly, or to sit down and fold her
hands and make no attempt to save herself. Something more than the
general danger which impended over both must have arisen, during that
brief period, to drive her from her post.

"Nellie! Nellie!" he called again, shoving the pole vigorously against
the bottom of the pond.

He was sure he heard the faint response this time, and so distinctly
that he caught the direction; it was from a point on the shore very
nearly opposite where he had left her.

"I hear you," he called back, working the unwieldy float toward the
spot; "I'll soon be there."

The distance was not great and it took but a few minutes to approach
quite close to the land, where, with a delight which can scarcely be
imagined, he saw Nellie standing close to the water's edge, beckoning
him to make all haste.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, as he forced the craft close to her.

"No," she answered, with a strange laugh, "but I thought my last moment
had come."

"Didn't you hear me call you?"

"Of course I did; any one within a mile could hear you."

"Why then didn't you answer me?"

"I was afraid to."

"Afraid of what?"

"Didn't you see him?" was the puzzling question of Nellie in return, as
she stepped carefully upon the raft, helped by the extended hand of her
brother.

"Nellie, stop talking in puzzles," said Nick; "I was so scared about you
that I won't get over it for a week; I called to, and hunted for you,
and you say you heard me; you must ha