time to
git cl'ar on't myself. The poor cuss is a br'ilin'!"

"K-r-r-r! hi! don't ye har me callin'!" Cudjo sprang up the ledge.
"Fire's a comin' to de cave! All in de brush dar! Can't get in widout ye
go now!"

"And Pomp and the rest! They will be shut out, if they are not lost
already!"

"Pomp know well 'nuff what him 'bout, tell ye! Gorry, massa! ye got to
come, if Cudjo hab to tote ye!"

Yielding to his importunity, Penn quitted the ledge. On the shelf of
rock Cudjo paused to gnash his teeth at the flames sweeping up towards
them. He had long since recovered from his fit of superstitious frenzy.
He had seen the fire burning the woods that sheltered him in his
mountain retreat, instead of going intelligently to work to destroy the
dwellings of the whites; and he no longer regarded it as a deity worthy
of his worship.

"All dis yer brush be burnt up! Den nuffin' to hide Cudjo's house!"

"Don't despair, Cudjo. We will trust in Him who is God even of the
fire."

Even as Penn spoke, he felt a cool spatter on his hand. He looked up;
sudden, plashy drops smote his face.

"Rain! It is coming! Thank Heaven for the rain!"

At the same time, the wind shifted, and blew fitful gusts down the
mountain. Then it lulled; and the rain poured.

"Cudjo, your thickets are saved!" said Penn, exultantly. Then
immediately he thought of the absent ones, for whom the rain might be
too late; of the beautiful forests, whose burning not cataracts could
quench; of the unknown corpse far below in the ravine there, and the
swift soul gone to God.

"What news?" asked the old man as he entered the cave.

"It is morning, and it rains; but your friends are still away.--The man
is dead," aside to Virginia.

"Heaven grant they be safe somewhere!" said the old man. "And Pomp?"

"He is missing too."

There was a long, deep silence. A painful suspense seemed to hold every
heart still, while they listened. Suddenly a strange noise was heard, as
of a ghost walking. Louder and louder it sounded, hollow, faint,
far-off. Was it on the rocks over their heads? or in caverns beneath
their feet?

"Told ye so! told ye so!" said Cudjo, laughing with wild glee.

The fire had burnt low again, and he was in the act of kindling it, when
a novel idea seemed to strike him, and, seizing a pan, he inverted it
over the little remnant of a flame. In an instant the cave was dark. It
was some seconds before the eyes of the inmates grew accustomed to the
g