got to watch the storm in
front of them in her admiration of his ability. It was to her the
most amazing exhibition of strength and adroitness combined that
she had ever witnessed. The wild enjoyment of that drive was
fixed in her memory for all time.

At the end of half-an-hour's rapid travelling a great darkness had
begun to envelope them, and obscurity so pall-like that even near
objects were seen as it were through a dark veil.

Burke broke his long silence. "Only two miles more!"

She answered him exultantly. "I could go on for ever!"

They seemed to fly on the wings of the wind those last two miles.
She fancied that they had turned off the track and were racing over
the grass, but the darkness was such that she could discern nothing
with any certainty. At last there came a heavy jolting that flung
her against Burke's shoulder, and on the top of it a frightful
flash and explosion that made her think the earth had rent asunder
under their feet.

Half-stunned and wholly blinded, she covered her face, crouching
down almost against the foot-board of the cart, while the dreadful
echoes rolled away.

Then again came Burke's voice, brief yet amazingly reassuring.
"Get down and run in! It's all right."

She realized that they had come to a standstill, and mechanically
she raised herself to obey him.

As she groped for the step, he grasped her arm. "Get on to the
_stoep_! There's going to be rain. I'll be with you in a second."

She thanked him, and found herself on the ground. A man in front
of her was calling out unintelligibly, and somewhere under cover a
woman's voice was uplifted in shrill tones of dismay. This latter
sound made her think of the chattering of an indignant monkey, so
shrill was it and so incessant.

A dark pile of building stood before her, and she blundered towards
it, not seeing in the least where she was going. The next moment
she kicked against some steps, and sprawled headlong.

Someone--Burke--uttered an oath behind her, and she heard him leap
to the ground. She made a sharp effort to rise, and cried out with
a sudden pain in her right knee that rendered her for an instant
powerless. Then she felt his hands upon her, beneath her. He
lifted her bodily and bore her upwards.

She was still half-dazed when he set her down in a chair. She held
fast to his arm. "Please stay with me just a moment--just a
moment!" she besought him incoherently.

He stayed, very steady