r horses?" he shouted. "The fire has reached the grass.
Slaughter, quick; it's life or death."

He sprang over the rail as he spoke, and pushed against Slaughter as he
dashed over to Ailleen and seized her by the arm. The impact brought
Slaughter out of his stupor.

"The horses are gone," he cried. Then, as his awakened sense showed him
the peril they were in, he rushed along the verandah, shouting, "Fire
the grass. It's our only chance."

"Go to the back of the house," Tony exclaimed to Ailleen, as he sped
after him.

From the windward side of the verandah he and Slaughter leaped to the
ground. The smoke was rolling towards them in great opaque billows and
the air scorched their faces, for through the dense mass they saw the
lurid gleam of the flames leaping and springing like living things
thrown out in a skirmishing line across the grass-covered stretch of
country. They dashed forward towards it, their eyes half blinded, their
lungs choking, and their skin blistering.

"Light it there," Slaughter gasped; and Tony paused to get his
match-box.

He flung a lighted match on the grass, and in a moment, with a roar and
a glare that sent him reeling to the ground, the flames sprang up,
dancing, skipping, rushing hither and thither as they licked up the fuel
of the grass. In a moment they had passed from him, travelling in a
widening circle, the curve to windward moving slowly, the curve to
leeward looping as it ran over the ground. Through the line of flame and
smoke he saw the station loom. A moment later it stood clear on the
blackened earth, and on either side of it the broken line of flame sped
on. Scrambling to his feet, he ran over the still smoking ashes towards
the house, with one thought in his mind, one hope in his heart--that the
woodwork had not caught.

He reached the verandah, which was reeking with the smell of scorched
wood, and rushed round to the other side. The line of flame was already
far beyond it, passing over the open grass country at the back with
towering masses of dead white smoke rolling along overhead. On the
verandah the blind woman sat, huddled up against the wall, and beside
her Ailleen was standing.

She turned as she heard him, and took a step towards him with
outstretched hands.

"Thank God you came," she said, as he caught her in his arms and held
her.

"Darling, darling!" he whispered. "Ailleen, you are mine now."

"I always was," she answered, as she clung to him. "Oh, wh