"Are gone." She clasped her hands entreatingly. "Oh, St. John, do be a man for once!"
"A man? What do you mean, mother?" he cried, leaping up as soon as he heard that the enemy was gone. "I am not afraid. I—I had a sudden attack of pain around my—my heart, that's all."
"Then, if it is over, save the house," she answered coldly, and ran off to tell the servants about the pails and buckets.
A LIVELY FIRE.
In the meantime Jack and several others of the Home Guard had made their way to the barn and brought forth two ladders, a short affair and one which was both long and heavy.
"The short one can be placed on the veranda roof," said the young captain. "The other we can place against the corner, where the fire is burning the strongest."
"Somebody must have gone into the garret to set that fire," said another of the boys. "Where are the water buckets?"
"Here da am, sah," replied one of the negro servants, and handed them over.
"Somebody must keep at the well," said Jack. "Pompey, you know how to use the buckets best. You draw for us."