of the houses in which they dwell have been in flames.

When Forest entered the window the second time he found the smoke
thicker than before, and had some difficulty in groping his way--for
smoke that may be breathed with comparative ease is found to be very
severe on the eyes. He succeeded, however, in finding a woman lying
insensible on the floor of the room above. In carrying her to the
window he fell over a small child, which was lying on the floor in a
state of insensibility. Grasping the latter with his left hand, he
seized its night-dress with his teeth, and, with the woman on his
shoulder, appeared on the top of the fly-ladder, which he descended in
safety.

The cheers and shouts of the crowd were deafening as Forest came down;
but the woman, who had begun to recover, said that her brother was in a
loft above the room in which she had been found.

The Conductor, therefore, went up again, got on the roof of the house,
broke through the tiles, and with much difficulty pulled the man through
the aperture and conveyed him safely to the ground. [See note 1].

The firemen were already at Forest's heels, and as soon as he dragged
the man through the hole in the roof, Frank and Baxmore jumped into it
with the branch, and immediately attacked the fire.

By this time all the engines of the district in which the fire had
occurred, and one from each of the two adjoining districts, had arrived,
and were in full play, and one by one the individual men from the
distant stations came dropping in and reported themselves to Dale, Mr
Braidwood not being present on that occasion. There was thus a strong
force of fresh firemen on the ground, and these, as they came up, were
sent--in military parlance--to relieve skirmishers. The others were
congregated in front of the door, moving quietly about, looking on and
chatting in undertones.

Such of the public as arrived late at the fire no doubt formed a very
erroneous impression in regard to these men, for not only did they
appear to be lounging about doing nothing, but they were helped by one
of their number to a glass of brandy--such of them at least as chose to
take it. But those who had witnessed the fire from the beginning knew
that these men had toiled, with every nerve and muscle strained, for
upwards of an hour in the face of almost unbearable heat,
half-suffocated by smoke, and drenched by hot water. They were resting
now, and they had much need of rest, for som