Mr. Charlton was not idle while he was talking. He had set Ralph free, and had cut the ropes that held Mr. Rexworth, who now opened his eyes and stared around in bewilderment.
"Oh father, father!" cried Ralph. "Thank God that you are alive! Try and rouse yourself, father dear. We are in great danger. The house is on fire, and if we do not get away quickly we must all perish."
"Ralph, what is it! How did you come?" the father asked vacantly. And Mr. Charlton shook him.
"Never mind that now, friend!" he cried. "The fire is upon us. Ah, see there!"—as the door fell with a crash and a burst of flame swept in upon them. "We have not a moment to lose. Out you go, Ralph, and hold on like a limpet! Be ready to aid your father, that is all"—as Ralph scrambled through the window and managed to find footing on a narrow ledge that ran round the house. "Now, Mr. Rexworth, prove yourself a man. If you fall, the dogs won't give you a chance. Now, sir, for Heaven's sake, try!"
"I will manage it all right, my good friend," answered Mr. Rexworth. The flame and smoke had recalled him to the immediate peril. "Just a hand through, that is all." And, summoning all his reserve of strength and resolution, he managed to get from the window, aided by Mr. Charlton in the room, and somewhat supported by Ralph behind him.
Cautiously holding on with grim energy, the three managed to creep back to that point from which the rescuer had first started—the top of the verandah. But this was a position of great peril now; for the flames were breaking through it, and darting from the windows above it, and the melted lead of roof and gutter hissed and spluttered. It seemed death to go on; it was death to go back. And the two hounds below had followed them round, and now stood barking up at them.
"We must risk it," panted Mr. Charlton. "Let me go first, and show you how to do it. If you step on the wall you can reach the branch of the tree in three strides. It seems very dreadful, but the peril is more apparent than real. Look!"
He boldly jumped to the brickwork around which the fire darted. He took three quick firm steps, and was able to swing himself into the limb of the tree, safe from the fire's reach.
Mr. Rexworth followed by the same dangerous path. "Now, Ralph!" he cried. But almost as the words came the whole of the verandah, and the brickwork supporting it, fell in; and there Ralph was left clinging to that narrow protection of the wall.