at me with white faces.

"It may be done," I said. "Come quickly! it is the only chance."

The prior gave me the rope-ladder end without a word, not needing
to be asked for it; nor did I wait to say more, for at that moment
a roof fell in with a great crash, and a red glare filled the well
as the flames shot up, and the sparks and bits of burning timber
came down the shaft and hissed into the water below me.

I clomb up, fixed the ladder, and called down to the prior to bring
my arms with him. There was a burning beam not three feet from the
well mouth, part of the fallen roof that had slipped sideways from
it. The flames that shot up from the building were so hot that I
could barely abide them, and I shaded my face with both my hands,
crying again to the monks to come quickly.

In a few seconds came the sacristan, white and trembling--I had to
help him out of the well mouth. The prior was close to him; he was
calm, and even smiled at me as he saw me clutch my arms eagerly.

"To the rear gate," I said, turning and kicking the ladder into the
well, and thinking how cool the splash was compared with this
furnace of heat. "Kilt up your frocks and go swiftly, but run not,"
for in that smoke, save their long garments betrayed them, a man
might be armed or unarmed for all that one could see.

So, walking quickly, we came to the court entrance, and even as we
stood under its archway the building nearest the well fell with a
crash and rumble, covering the well mouth with a pile of blazing