The Colonel's Wife — page 54: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THROUGH FLAME AND SMOKE. 47 acne the lay of the land, he saw there was a single chance of reaching the room from whence the girl signaled so wildly. Sergeant Shanks, with several of the troopers, had. hastened to secure a ladder they had discovered alongside an outbuilding. It would be too short to reach the window, and there seemed little chance that the girl could pass through such a small opening. , Fortunately John was a man a quick invention, a man who could see the best way out of a difficulty. He took the one chance. ‘ Shouting an order to the sergeant he made a mo- tion of encouragement to the flame-imprisoned girl above. Then he burst ina tear door and sprang up the © back steps three at a time. Any stranger would have made a mess of the whole business, but John, knowing every foot of the way, could utilize each fleeting second. Heaven knows there was need of haste. Once he staggered back aghast, as a forked sea eT fire flashed athwart. his path; but when it drew away its poisonous tongue he rushed blindly on. There would be no returning over this same route, but John cared not for that. He could find some other means of attaining the same end, being a man of ingenuity. The room in which the girl was confined was a portion of the attic, for differing from most Southern — houses the old Ridgeway mansion had a high roof. Who she was and how she came there—these were - questions that John did not bother himself about. Ascending the last flight of stairs he found himself at the door of the small room. It was closed. When he tried to open it he found himself baffled, ‘Then the shook the door savagely. a COME efofo) (SCO