"Now listen to me," I answered. "You can have any one tried by proper course of law for witchcraft. If you take the law into your own hands, I shall kill some of you, and the rest will be hanged for killing me." They replied by a volley of stones, and a furious rush. A stone struck Mistress Goel, and she sank to the floor. I could do nothing for her, save push her with my foot as far back from the door as I could reach, for the men were on me, shouting, and brandishing sticks and knives. I stepped back, counting on their jamming themselves together in the opening, which they did, coming on pell-mell. Attempting no kind of guard, I stood to crack intruding heads. A knife was thrown, and stuck in my left shoulder, whether in cloth or flesh, I knew not. My good ash-plant struck three heads down, and my boot smashed a face at a corner. Then the fellows drew off a little, dragging their fallen comrades with them, but still facing the doorway; so I whipped out pistol, and shot one of them in the leg. That sent them out of range. "Hand me the pistol," said my companion, rather faintly. "Thank God!" I ejaculated, but I could not leave my post to see her. Some of the men were talking loudly, and pointing; others ran off in various directions. Shortly, they returned, carrying dead branches and heaps of straw. They made for the other side of the mill, keeping well out of pistol shot. Plainly they meant to set the mill on fire and burn us out. It would blaze quickly, for it was slightly built, and the timber old and dry, and I feared that the place would be too hot for us long before a large number of people were drawn to the spot; but our best plan was to stay where we were as long as might be possible. The bulk of our enemies now sat on the ground to await the result of the fire. I might have broken a hole through the mill wall, but our safety--such as it was--depended on there being only one opening to guard. So, keeping one eye on the enemy, I looked at Mistress Goel's hurt. It was a gash over the eye, and had bled copiously, but the bleeding had ceased. She insisted on cutting open my sleeve, from which the knife had fallen, after sticking there some time, and found a deepish cut, and my sleeve soaked with blood. She bound up the wound with a strip from her dress. Now we heard a great crackling and roaring outside. The fire had taken hold. "Frank," said Mistress Goel, and my heart thrilled at the word and the tone. "Frank, promise that you will kill me rather than let me fall into their hands. I would ask for a pistol to do it myself, but you may have need of them. Promise me, by all that is most sacred to you." "I promise you that you shall not be taken alive, by the most sacred of all things to me--my love for you." The heat of the mill grew stifling. Snaky flames came through the cracks and crevices, and hissed upward. "We must try for life," I said, and pulled away the sacks and the door.