He did not recognize the man,
but he understood the words and was upon the veranda in a bound.
"Scott!" he cried, and then, dashing back into the house,
"Jane! Jane! where are you?"
In an instant Esmeralda, Professor Porter and Mr. Philander
had joined the two men.
"Where is Miss Jane?" cried Clayton, seizing Esmeralda by
the shoulders and shaking her roughly.
"Oh, Gaberelle, Mister Clayton, she done gone for a walk."
"Hasn't she come back yet?" and, without waiting for a reply,
Clayton dashed out into the yard, followed by the others.
"Which way did she go?" cried the black-haired giant of Esmeralda.
"Down that road," cried the frightened woman, pointing
toward the south where a mighty wall of roaring flames shut
out the view.
"Put these people in the other car," shouted the stranger to
Clayton. "I saw one as I drove up--and get them out of here
by the north road.
"Leave my car here. If I find Miss Porter we shall need it.
If I don't, no one will need it. Do as I say," as Clayton
hesitated, and then they saw the lithe figure bound away cross
the clearing toward the northwest where the forest still stood,
untouched by flame.
In each rose the unaccountable feeling that a great
responsibility had been raised from their shoulders; a kind
of implicit confidence in the power of the stranger to save
Jane if she could be saved.
"Who was that?" asked Professor Porter.
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