The red glare of the flames fell upon all objects around for some
distance--the more especially so, as the sun had sunk, and a bank of
clouds rose from beneath the horizon and excluded all his rays; there
was no twilight, and there was, as yet, no moon. The country side was enveloped in darkness, and the burning house could
be seen for miles around, and formed a rallying-point to all men's eyes. The engines that were within reach came tearing across the country, and
came to the fire; but they were of no avail. There was no supply of
water, save from the ornamental ponds. These they could only get at by
means that were tedious and unsatisfactory, considering the emergency of
the case. The house was a lone one, and it was being entirely consumed before they
arrived, and therefore there was not the remotest chance of saving the
least article. Had they ever such a supply of water, nothing could have
been effected by it. Thus the men stood idly by, passing their remarks upon the fire and the
mob. Those who stood around, and within the influence of the red glare of the
flames, looked like so many demons in the infernal regions, watching the
progress of lighting the fire, which we are told by good Christians is
the doom of the unfortunate in spirit, and the woefully unlucky in
circumstances. It was a strange sight that; and there were many persons who would,
without doubt, have rather been snug by their own fire-side than they
would have remained there but it happened that no one felt inclined to
express his inclination to his neighbour, and, consequently, no one said
anything on the subject. None would venture to go alone across the fields, where the spirit of
the vampyre might, for all they knew to the contrary, be waiting to
pounce upon them, and worry them. No, no; no man would have quitted that mob to go back alone to the
village; they would sooner have stood there all night through. That was
an alternative that none of the number would very willingly accept. The hours passed away, and the house that had been that morning a noble
and well-furnished mansion, was now a smouldering heap of ruins. The
flames had become somewhat subdued, and there was now more smoke than
flames. The fire had exhausted itself. There was now no more material that could
serve it for fuel, and the flames began to become gradually enough
subdued. Suddenly there was a rush, and then a bright flame shot upward for an
instant, so bright and so strong, that it threw a flash of light over
the country for miles; but it was only momentary, and it subsided. The roof, which had been built strong enough to resist almost anything,
after being burning for a considerable time, suddenly gave way, and came
in with a tremendous crash, and then all was for a moment darkness. After this the fire might be said to be subdued, it having burned itself
out; and the flames that could now be seen were but the result of so
much charred wood, that would probably smoulder away for a day or two,
if left to itself to do so. A dense mass of smoke arose from the ruins,
and blackened the atmosphere around, and told the spectators the work
was done. CHAPTER LV. THE RETURN OF THE MOB AND MILITARY TO THE TOWN.--THE MADNESS OF THE
MOB.--THE GROCER'S REVENGE. [Illustration]

On the termination of the conflagration, or, rather, the fall of the
roof, with the loss of grandeur in the spectacle, men's minds began to
be free from the excitement that chained them to the spot, watching the
progress of that element which has been truly described as a very good
servant, but a very bad master; and of the truth of this every one must
be well satisfied. There was now remaining little more than the livid glare of the hot and
burning embers; and this did not extend far, for the walls were too
strongly built to fall in from their own weight; they were strong and
stout, and intercepted the little light the ashes would have given out. The mob now began to feel fatigued and chilly. It had been standing and
walking about many hours, and the approach of exhaustion could not be
put off much longer, especially as there was no longer any great
excitement to carry it off. The officer, seeing that nothing was to be done, collected his men
together, and they were soon seen in motion. He had been ordered to stop
any tumult that he might have seen, and to save any property. But there
was nothing to do now; all the property that could have been saved was
now destroyed, and the mob were beginning to disperse, and creep towards
their own houses. The order was then given for the men to take close order, and keep
together, and the word to march was given, which the men obeyed with
alacrity, for they had no good-will in stopping there the whole of the
night. The return to the village of both the mob and the military was not
without its vicissitudes; accidents of all kinds were rife amongst them;
the military, however, taking the open paths, soon diminished the
distance, and that, too, with little or no accidents, save such as might
have been expected from the state of the fields, after they had been so
much trodden down of late. Not so the townspeople or the peasantry; for, by way of keeping up their
spirits, and amusing themselves on their way home, they commenced
larking, as they called it, which often meant the execution of practical
jokes, and these sometimes were of a serious nature. The night was dark at that hour, especially so when there was a number
of persons traversing about, so that little or nothing could be seen. The mistakes and blunders that were made were numerous. In one place
there were a number of people penetrating a path that led only to a
hedge and deep ditch; indeed it was a brook very deep and muddy. Here they came to a stop and endeavoured to ascertain its width, but the
little reflected light they had was deceptive, and it did not appear so
broad as it was. "Oh, I can jump it," exclaimed one. "And so can I," said another. "I have done so before, and why should I
not do so now." This was unanswerable, and as there were many present, at least a dozen
were eager to jump. "If thee can do it, I know I can," said a brawny countryman; "so I'll do
it at once. "The sooner the better," shouted some one behind, "or you'll have no
room for a run, here's a lot of 'em coming up; push over as quickly as
you can." Thus urged, the jumpers at once made a rush to the edge of the ditch,
and many jumped, and many more, from the prevailing darkness, did not
see exactly where the ditch was, and taking one or two steps too many,
found themselves up above the waist in muddy water. Nor were those who jumped much better off, for nearly all jumped short
or fell backwards into the stream, and were dragged out in a terrible
state. "Oh, lord! oh, lord!" exclaimed one poor fellow, dripping wet and
shivering with cold, "I shall die! oh, the rheumatiz, there'll be a
pretty winter for me: I'm half dead."