"Where shall we send for fire engines?"
"There is not one to be had nearer than Cheltenham," was the reply.
"Now then," cried he, seizing a young man, who was hurrying about, scarcely knowing what he did, "do you know the road to Cheltenham?"
Being answered in the affirmative, he bade him mount his horse, and ride as fast as possible in search of engines. Well he knew his own good steed would die rather than give up the journey, and, though he sighed as he thought how long the way would be, he dared not reckon his horse's life against those of his fellow creatures.
His next effort was to bring the scattered crowd a little into order, for the purpose of checking the rapid spread of the fire. Nothing secures obedience to a command so much as the decision and coolness with which it is given; and all were soon engaged in pulling down, at his suggestion, the cottage which lay nearest to those already burning.
But the futility of the attempt was soon perceived by the sparks leaping over and catching the roof of a more distant tenement. As soon as the fire touched it, an up-stair lattice-window was thrown open, and a woman leaning out, and raising her hands wildly in the air, cried aloud for help.
"Come down," said the stranger, in a voice distinctly heard above the tempest, and the confused noises around him, "come down, and you are safe—nothing hinders you."
"My father!" screamed the woman, "I cannot move him—come up, in mercy, come to me. Help! help!—we are all on fire!"