“Halloo there!” shouted Macduff. “The roof is going.”
The failure of one principal entailed the fall of the rest; they were dragged out of place; they slanted on one side, parted from the chimney, but remained on the walls, inclined.
Thomasine, alarmed for her mother’s safety, now clung to the door, and cried to her to come forth. She could see nothing for the cloud that filled the cottage. Thomasine, lamed by her sprained ankle, stood at the door and limped painfully a step forward.
“Oh, Arkie! Arkie!” she cried, appealing to her lover, “do run in and force mother to come out.”
“But she will not come,” remonstrated he.
Another shout—now of dismay.
“The chimney! the chimney!”
A crack had suddenly revealed itself. The rotten loosely-compacted wall had parted.
“It will be down in a minute! save her!”
“Five—I mean one sovereign to any who will bring her out,” shouted Macduff.