biles; they could save nothing
else.

The Hoopers had just risen from breakfast when the boys arrived; at once
Grace came out, and her expressions of regret were such as to imply that
the family had lost nothing, the boys being the only sufferers. And it
_was_ a bit staggering--all their work and machinery and tools and plans
utterly ruined--the lathe and drill a heap of twisted iron. It was with
a rueful face that Bill surveyed the catastrophe.

"Never mind, Billy," said Grace, detecting evidence of moisture in his
eyes; but she went over to smiling Gus and gazed at him in wonder.
"Don't you care?" she asked.

"You bet I care; mostly on Bill's account, though. He had set his heart
mighty strong on this. I'm sorry about your loss, too."

"Oh, never mind that! Dad is 'phoning now for carpenters and his
builder. He'll be out in a minute."

Out he did come, with a shout of greeting; he, too, had sensed that the
real regrets would be with them.

"It'll be all right, me lads!" he shouted. "Herring'll be here on the
next train, with a bunch o' men, an' I'll git your dad, Gus, too. Must
have this building up just like it was in ten days. An' now count up
just what you lads have lost; the hull sum total, b'jinks! I'm goin' to
be the insurance comp'ny in this deal."

"The insurance company!" Bill exclaimed and Gus stared.

"Sure. Goin' to make up your loss an' then some. I'm a heap int'rested
in this Eddy's son business, ain't I? Think I ain't wantin' to see that
there contraption that hears a hunderd miles off? Get busy an' give me
the expense. We've got to git a-goin'."

"But, Mr. Hooper, our loss isn't yours and you have got enough to--"

"Don't talk; figger! I'm runnin' this loss business. Don't want to make
me mad; eh? Git at it an' hurry up!" He turned and walked away. Grace
followed in a moment, but over her shoulder remarked to the wondering
boys:

"Do as Dad says if you want to keep our friendship. Dad isn't any sort
of a piker,--you know that."

The insistency was too direct; "the queen's wish was a command." The
boys would have to comply and they could get square with their good
friends in the end. So at it they went, Bill with pad and pencil, Gus
calling out the items as his eye or his memory gleaned them from the
hard-looking objects in the burned mass as he raked it over. Presently
Grace came out again.

"Dad wants the list and the amount," she said. "He's got to go to the
city with Mr. Herring."