tared.
The growing flame struck a flash from his knife, drove into his brain a
full realization of the monstrous misunderstanding which had nearly
involved them in unspeakable disaster.

"Good God, Nora! I nearly--I tried to--"

Her smile grew.

"I didn't know what I should find in here. I couldn't afford to take
chances."

"But I left you in New York," he went on uncertainly. "How did you come?
Why are you here?"

"No time for explanations now," she answered quickly. "We must get out
of here."

He recalled the patter of hastening feet, the soft closing of the door.
In the growing light he saw its tin-sheeted face flush with the wall.

"The door has been shut," he said. "I'm afraid--locked. Why did you
light that fire?"

She ran across, grasped the knob, then commenced to beat with her fists
at the tin. Suddenly she stopped. Her shoulders drooped.

"No use," she whispered. "She must have come in. She won't open now."

Garth hurried to her side.

"I don't understand," he said, "but it's evident we are caught here, and
that fire has been fixed--a signal?"

She nodded.

"Why did you light it?"

"Because," she answered dully, "it had to burn to-night."

The crisis they faced was clear to him.

"Nora! In a minute this room will be a furnace."

He imagined from the excitement still flashing in her eyes that she did
not quite realize, but she spoke without regret, and her words carried
the shocking fatality of the German's.

"I'm sorry, Jim, but if I had known we would be caught I would have
lighted it just the same. After all, a small price in the long run--only
the two of us."

He brushed the rapid perspiration from his face. The fire had reached
the heart of the pile. The air thickened with a reddish, pungent smoke.
He choked.

"I'm sorry, Jim. I came only to help you, but I found--"

The vapour cut her voice.

The sentimental possibilities of their predicament came with a gentle
wonder to Garth. They over-weighed the danger, robbed him for the moment
of full comprehension. This clearly was his moment, and whatever the
next might bring seemed a fair exchange for her probable response. He
reached blindly towards her through the smoke.

"Nora!"

His heart leapt as she swayed a little. Then he heard the grating of the
key in the lock. It impressed him as curious that the saving sound
carried to him a sense of disappointment, the emptiness of a destiny
unfulfilled.

Nora turned the knob. He p