said:

"Stand you here and guard the horses; if any attempt to pass, stop it,
or cut it down, and--" The flames at this moment burst through the
dormer-windows[96] and cedar roof of the cottage, and a bright light
glared on the darkness of the night. "On!" shouted the trooper, "on!
Give quarter when justice is done!"

[Footnote 96: upright windows built on a sloping roof.]

There was a startling fierceness in the voice of the trooper that
reached to the heart, even amid the horrors of the cottage. The leader
dropped his plunder and for a moment he stood in nerveless dread;
then, rushing to the window, he threw up the sash. At this instant
Lawton entered, sabre in hand, into the apartment.

"Die, miscreant!" cried the trooper, cleaving a marauder to the jaw;
but the leader sprang into the lawn and escaped his vengeance.

The shrieks of the females restored Lawton to his presence of mind,
and the earnest entreaty of the divine induced him to attend to the
safety of the family. One more of the gang fell in with the dragoons
and met his death, but the remainder had taken the alarm in season.

A loud crash in the upper apartments was succeeded by a bright light
that glared through the open door, and made objects as distinct as
day. Another dreadful crash shook the building to its centre. It was
the falling of the roof, and the flames threw their light abroad so as
to make objects visible around the cottage through the windows of the
room. Frances, who was with Sarah, flew to one of them and saw the
confused group that was collected on the lawn. Among them was her
aunt, pointing with distraction to the fiery edifice, and apparently
urging the dragoon to enter it. For the first time she comprehended
their danger, and, uttering a wild shriek, she flew through the
passage without consideration or object.

A dense and suffocating smoke opposed her progress. She paused to
breathe, when a man caught her in his arms and bore her, in a state of
insensibility, through the falling embers and darkness to the open
air. The instant that Frances recovered her recollection she perceived
that she owed her life to Lawton, and, throwing herself on her knees,
she cried:

"Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Save my sister, and may the blessing of God
await you!"

Her strength failed, and she sank on the grass in insensibility.

By this time the flames had dispersed much of the suffocating vapor,
so that the trooper was able to find the door