ey had been intrusted to his care and
were, therefore, of course more to be considered than the most valuable
private property. Much hindered by the crowd and by the fire engine
itself which had been moved into the entrance hall, he at length
succeeded in fighting his way past an unceasing procession of furniture
which was being rescued from the flames, and pushing his way up the
stairs, had almost gained his room when a pitiful cry reached his ears.
It was impossible to a man of Raeburn's nature not to turn aside; the
political dispatches might be very important, but a deserted child in
a burning house outweighed all other considerations. He threw open the
door of the room whence the cry had come; the scaffolding outside had
caught fire, and the flames were darting in at the window. Sitting up in
a little wooden cot was a child of two or three years old, his baby face
wild with fright.

"Poor bairn!" exclaimed Raeburn, taking him in his strong arms. "Have
they forgotten you?"

The child was German and did not understand a word, but it knew in a
moment that this man, so like a fairy-tale giant, was a rescuer.

"Guter Riese!" it sobbed, appealingly.

The "good giant" snatched a blanket from the cot, rolled it round the
shivering little bit of humanity, and carried him down into the platz.

"Keep this bairnie till his belongings claim him," he said, putting his
charge into Erica's arms. And then he hurried back again, once more
ran the gantlet of the descending wardrobes and bedsteads, and at last
reached his room. It was bare of all furniture; the lighter things his
coat among them had been thrown out of the window, the more solid things
had been carried down stairs. He stood there baffled and for once in his
life bewildered.

Half-choked with the smoke, he crossed the room and looked out of the
window, the hot breath of the flames from the scaffolding scorching his
face. But looking through that frame of fire, he saw that a cordon had
been drawn round the indiscriminate piles of rescued property, that the
military had been called out, and that the most perfect order prevailed.
There was still a chance that he might recover the lost papers! Then, as
there was no knowing that the roof would not fall in and crush him, he
made the best of his way down again among the still flowing stream of
furniture.

An immense crowd had gathered in the square outside; the awe-struck
murmurs and exclamations sounded like the roar