That the encounter would have ended in certain death to Jay Gardiner, in his exhausted state, was quite apparent to Jasper Wilde; but in that moment fate intervened to save him. Hardly had the two men come together in that desperate death-struggle, ere the startling cry of "Fire!" rang through the building. Jasper Wilde realized what that meant. There was but one exit from the cellar, and if he did not get out of it in a moment's time, he would be caught like a rat in a trap. Gathering himself together, he wrenched himself free from the doctor's grasp, and hurling him to the floor with a fearful blow planted directly between the eyes, sprung over the threshold. Wilde paused a single instant to shout back: "I leave you to your fate, my handsome doctor! Ha! ha! ha!" But fate did not intend Jay Gardiner to die just then, even though he sunk back upon the flags with an awful groan and fully realized the horror of the situation. That groan saved him. A fireman heard it, and in less time than it takes to tell it, a brawny, heroic fellow sprung through the iron door-way, which Wilde in his mad haste had not taken time to close. A moment more, and the fireman had carried his burden up through the flames, and out into the pure air. The fresh air revived the young doctor, as nothing else could have done. "Give me your name and address," he said, faintly, to the fireman. "You shall hear from me again;" and the man good-naturedly complied, and then turned back the next instant to his duty. In the excitement, he forgot to ask whose life it was he had saved. The fire proved to be a fearful holocaust. Canal Street had never known a conflagration that equaled it. Doctor Gardiner made superhuman efforts to enter the tenement-house, to save the life of the old basket-maker--Bernardine's hapless father--who stood paralyzed, incapable of action, at an upper window. But no human being could breast that sea of flame; and with a cry of horror, the young doctor saw the tenement collapse, and David Moore was buried in the ruins. He had forfeited his life for the brandy he had taken just a little while before, which utterly unfitted him to make an effort to get out of the building. Jay Gardiner, sick at heart, turned away with a groan. He must go to Bernardine at once; but, Heaven help her! how could he break the news of her great loss to her? As he was deliberating on what course to pursue, a hand was suddenly laid on his shoulder, and a voice said, lustily: "By all that is wonderful, I can scarcely believe my eyes, Jay Gardiner, that this is you! I expected you were at this moment hundred of miles away from New York. But, heavens! how ill you look! Your clothes are covered with dust. What can be the matter with you, Jay?" Turning suddenly at the sound of the familiar voice, Doctor Gardiner found himself face to face with the young physician who took charge of his office while he was away.