e of them had come out of
the burning house almost fainting from exposure to heat and smoke.
Indeed, Mason _had_ fainted; but the fresh air soon revived him, and
after a glass of brandy he recovered sufficiently to be fit for duty
again in half an hour.

Frank and Baxmore were the last to be relieved. When two fresh men came
up and took the branch they descended the stairs, and a strange descent
it was. The wooden stair, or flight of open steps, which they had to
descend first, was burnt to charcoal, and looked as if it would fall to
pieces with a touch.

"I hope it'll bear," said Frank to Baxmore, who went first.

"Bear or not bear, we _must_ go down," said Baxmore.

He went unhesitatingly upon it, and although the steps bent ominously,
there was enough of sound wood to sustain him.

The second stair, also of wood, had not been quite so much charred; but
so great was the quantity of water poured continuously into the house,
that it formed a regular water-course of the staircase, down which heaps
of plaster and bricks and burnt rubbish had been washed, and had stuck
here and there, forming obstructions on which the water broke and round
which it roared in the form of what might have been a very respectable
mountain-torrent, with this striking difference, that the water which
rushed down it was _hot_, in consequence of its having passed through
such glowing materials.

The lower staircase was a stone one--the worst of all stairs in a fire,
owing to its liability to crack at its connection with the wall, from
the combined influence of heat and cold water. Just as the two men
reached the head of it, it fell, without warning, in a mass of ruins.

"Never mind," said Baxmore, "the fire-escape is still at the window."

So saying, he ran through the smoke and reached it. Frank was about to
follow, when he observed a shut door. Without having any definite
intention, he laid hold of the handle, and found that it was locked on
the inside--he knew that, for he saw the end of the key sticking through
the key-hole. At once he threw his weight on it, and burst it open. To
his amazement, he found a little old lady sitting quietly, but in great
trepidation, in an easy-chair, partially clothed in very scanty
garments, which she had evidently thrown on in great haste.

"Go away, young man!" she screamed, drawing a shawl tightly round her.
"Go away, I say! how _dare_ you, sir?"

"Why, ma'am," cried Frank, striding up to h