It was a rough route they followed, but the blackened forest was still too hot for them to pass through, had they been able to find a path. This was a lonely strip of shore and they saw no living soul but themselves. Some trees were still smouldering along the creek banks. They could see these fires when they crossed the mouth of the stream, for the dusk had fallen and the flames sparkled like fireflies. It was a long tramp, and the horse, the dog, and the man were alike wearied. Carolyn May went fast asleep with her head pillowed in Miss Amanda’s lap. The latter and Joseph Stagg talked much. Indeed, there was much for them to say after all these years of silence. The woman, worn and scorched of face, looked down on the smutted and sweating man with an expression in her eyes that warmed him to the marrow. She was proud of him. And the gaze of love and longing that the hardware merchant turned upon Amanda Parlow would have amazed those people that believed he had consideration and thought only for business. In these few hours of alarm and close intimacy the man and the woman had leaped all the barriers time and pride had set up. Nothing further could keep Joseph Stagg and Amanda Parlow apart. And yet they never for one instant discussed the original cause of their estrangement. That was a dead issue. The refugees reached The Corners about nine o’clock. Jedidiah Parlow had hobbled up to the store and was just then organising a party of searchers to go to the rescue of the hardware dealer and those of whom he had set out in search. The village turned out _en masse_ to welcome the trio who had so miraculously escaped the fire. Aunty Rose’s relief knew no bounds. Mr. Parlow was undeniably glad to see his daughter safe; otherwise, he would never have overlooked the pitiable state his horse was in. Poor Cherry would never be the same unblemished animal again. “Well, I vum” he said to Joseph Stagg, “you done it! Better’n I could, too, I reckon. I’ll take the hoss home. You comin’ with me, Mandy?” Then he saw the burns on the younger man’s shoulders and arms. “The good land of Jehoshaphat! here’s work for you to do, Mandy. If you air any sort of a nurse, I reckon you got your hands full right here with Joe Stagg,” he added, with some pride in his daughter’s ability. “Phew! them’s bad-lookin’ burns!” “They are indeed,” agreed Aunty Rose. It was a fact that Mr. Stagg was in a bad state. Carolyn May had suggested that Aunty Rose would dress his burns, but Miss Amanda would allow nobody to do that but herself. When the curious and sympathetic neighbours had gone and Miss Amanda was still busy making Joseph Stagg comfortable in the sitting-room, Aunty Rose came out into the kitchen, where she had already bathed and helped Carolyn May to undress, and where the little girl was now sleepily eating her supper of bread and milk.