They started on a run, but in a minute their footsteps were arrested by an awful, rumbling sound. The ground shook horribly beneath their feet; there was a deafening roar, an awful crash, clouds of black dust rose into the air, and an awful conviction was forced upon their hearts: The factory had fallen in. “My husband! Oh, my husband!” shrieked the stricken wife, and her limbs gave way beneath her. She fell to the pavement like a stone. “Help, help!” cried Mrs. Jones wildly, and some one came to her assistance--reluctantly, though, for every one wished to rush to the scene of the terrible accident. Sadie was carried into a store, and Mrs. Jones hurriedly explained that the lady’s husband was a clerk in the factory that had just caved in. “If some one will care for her, I will go and see if he has escaped,” she said, and rushed away to the scene that was too terrible for pen to portray, or tongue to describe. For the factory had collapsed, and from under the ruins could be heard smothered shrieks of horror and groans of pain from the wounded and dying. In the thick black dust that rose into the air and fell in masses upon the pavement, two men met and recognized each other. “My Heaven, is it you?” Prince Gonzaga yelled, clutching Bayard Lorraine’s shoulder. “She is in there--do you hear? My wife! Under the wreck and ruin. Come, let us save her life, and she shall belong to the man that finds her in that death trap.” Bayard Lorraine looked into that frenzied face, and realized that Sadie Osborne had spoken the truth. The detective had been a traitor to each and made the most of his discovery. In that moment of horror, his hand went out and met Gonzaga’s in a crushing grasp. “I am with you to the death to save her life,” he shouted hoarsely; and then they plunged recklessly into the ruins together. CHAPTER XXXV. IN THE RUINS. A hundred brave hearts followed the two men into the ruins, and in a moment all became wild with excitement. The street was blocked up with a mob that gathered immediately after that deafening crash, and shrieks of terror from frightened women outside mingled with the audible groans of those who had been caught in the fallen building. Among the crowd upon the pavement, Mrs. Jones, the forewoman, ran wildly up and down, wringing her hands and begging that some one would save Waverley Osborne, whose wife was dying of fear. No one heeded her in the terror and confusion that prevailed among the crowd. The men worked like beavers, removing the débris from the wreck, but foremost of all went the two men who ventured first, and who worked side by side like friends and brothers in the one purpose that impelled them on. Prince Gonzaga, whose wild and wicked life had never until now known a prayer, was mutely supplicating Heaven to give him the happiness of saving that life which he had so relentlessly persecuted and darkened.