"Not there, you fool!" yelled Pamphile. "I passed that way two minutes ago, and see me now. This way! We can slip down the roof on this side and then jump to the ground. Are you ready?" "Yes," said Jean, slowly, "and I am sorry that I struck you with the whip. It would have been better----" "Shut up!" said Pamphile, savagely. "You shall pay for that, oh yes. But at present we must save ourselves. _Dieu_, but it is hot! This way. The roof will hold, I think. Prepare to jump in a moment. No, that will not be necessary--they have placed a ladder. There is some intelligence left, I see. Steady, now. Slowly. No danger. There, you are on earth again. _Par Dieu_! It was a close shave. The roof has fallen in. Madame, I have the honour to present to you Monseigneur de la Folie, the biggest damn fool in St. Placide--yes, in all Canada." "Listen to that," said one of the neighbours, who had hastened to the scene at the first alarm. "That is what I have always said. Jean Baptiste was a big fool to build a house like that--yes, a damn fool, as Monsieur the millionaire has said. It is a brave man, that millionaire. And Madame is glad to see her son again." "Yes," said Bonhomme Gagnon, with an air of importance, "it was I, you see, who was the first to arrive. Already the house was in flames. The people were safe--that is to say, all but Jean, who sleeps in the attic. Madame was distracted, frantic. ’Where is Jean? Oh, where is Jean?’ she screamed. ’Jean, my Jean! He will be burned to death.’ She rushed to the door, going to run upstairs through all the smoke and flame. ’No, no, Madame,’ I said, ’you cannot. Wait a minute, Jean will waken, no doubt, in a moment. If not, I will go myself.’ But she would not listen. "Then comes along Monsieur Pamphile, his face white as a sheet, but all marked with red stripes as though some one had struck him with a lash. What was the cause of that, I wonder? ’Stop, Madame!’ he cried. ’I will find the little priest. I will bring him down to you.’ He did not go in by the door--that was impossible--but climbed up to one of the windows of the second floor, and went in. ’There is a good man gone to his death,’ said I to myself. But presently he appeared on the roof, as you have seen. It was lucky I thought of the ladder, was it not? It was I who said: ’Bring the ladder.’ You heard me, Damase." "Yes," said Damase Gosselin, with a smile; "you were saving the life of a tourist, I think." "Naturally," said Bonhomme Gagnon, with some asperity, "I was assisting everybody." "And meanwhile," continued Damase, "the millionaire from Nevada ascends to the rescue of Jean Baptiste. It is a hero, that millionaire. But where is he? Disappeared, vanished! That is the way with heroes. They are modest people. One never hears them blow their own horn."