SMOKING OUT THE ENEMY. 391 



at her own act of desperation. The darkness wrapped 

 her as a mantle, not protecting her but pinioning her 

 arms in helplessness. It seemed the greater from the 

 contrast with the beacon light that usually shone from 

 the lantern brightening even the distant sea. She struck 

 a match and lit the great lamp of the lantern, and as its 

 flash broke out on the night her heart grew lighter at its 

 accustomed cheerfulness. She could once more see the 

 white walls of her house, and the ranks of marching 

 breakers that knelt along the beach, discharging their 

 regular volleys of noise and foam. She laid down on the 

 floor so as to be secure from any shot from without, and 

 watched the narrow winding steps of the tower. 



Where was her uncle ! There had been no voice or 

 sound of him since they had parted. There was but one 

 opinion as to his fate ; she could not think of it, and 

 sternly shut it back lest she might be totally unnerved. 



A few hours sped by, and a, motion at the base of the 

 tower indicated some new attempt on the part of the 

 besiegers. The experiment developed itself in a cloud 

 of smoke that gradually mounted the tower and found 

 vent through the trap door. Then a flame was seen 

 below, and in a moment more the winding stairs were in 

 a blaze. The fortress they dared not storm, was to be 

 burned out. The girl looked around her as the smoke 

 accumulated, and opened the windows and the door that 

 led to the gallery to give it vent. The flames roared up 

 through the aperture as through a hollow tree, above 

 which, the lantern, like the topmost boughs, came out 



