After the first cry of surprise, neither spoke; across both their minds rushed the certainty of death.

How long the terrible time that followed lasted, neither of them ever knew.  The sensation was that of being pounded to death.  At one moment they were together, then separated; now rolling over and over in a sort of ball, then lifted up and cast down into the bottom of the wheel with a crash; now with their heads highest, now with their feet.  It was like a terrible nightmare; but gradually the sharp pain of the blows and falls were less vivid—­a dull sensation came over them—­and both lost consciousness.

Rupert was the first to open his eyes, and for a time lay but in dreamy wonder as to where he was, and what had happened.  He seemed to be lying under a great penthouse, with a red glow pervading everything.  Gradually his thoughts took shape, and he remembered what had passed, and struggling painfully into a sitting position, looked round.

The wheel no longer revolved; there was no longer the constant splash of water.  Indeed the wheel existed as a wheel no longer.

As he looked round the truth lighted upon him.  The burning mill had fallen across the wheel, crushing, at the top, the sides together.  The massive timber had given no further, and the wheel formed a sort of roof, sloping from the outer wall, built solidly up against it, to the opposite foot.  Above, the timber of this wall glared and flickered, but the soddened timber of the wheel could have resisted a far greater amount of heat.  The leet had of course been carried away with the fall, and the water would be flowing down the valley.  The heat was very great, but the rush of air up the deep cut of the mill race rendered it bearable.

Having once grasped the facts—­and as he doubted not the fall must have occurred soon after he lost consciousness, and so saved him from being bruised to death—­Rupert turned to Hugh.

He was quite insensible, but his heart still beat.  Rupert crawled out of the wheel, and found pools of water in the mill race, from which he brought double handfuls, and sprinkled Hugh’s face.  Then as he himself grew stronger from fresh air and a copious dousing of his face and head with water, he dragged Hugh out, and laying him beside a pool dashed water on his face and chest.  A deep sigh was the first symptom of returning consciousness.  He soon, to Rupert’s delight, opened his eyes.

After a time he sat up, but was too much hurt to rise.  After some consultation, Rupert left him, and went alone down to the hamlet of Dettinheim, where, after much knocking, he roused some of the inhabitants, who had only a short time before returned from the burning mill.  Sodden and discoloured as it was, Rupert’s uniform was still recognizable, and by the authority this conveyed, and a promise of ample reward, four men were induced to return with him to the mill, and carry Hugh down to the village.