ew up
and struck Irene on the hand.

"Ooo!" screeched the unfortunate victim. "What made you do that?"

"I didn't do it a-purpose," indignantly denied her twin. "Stop your
jumping and suck it off."

Irene obediently thrust the smarting wound into her mouth, and
immediately let out another howl of anguish, for the sticky mass had
burned the little tongue sadly, and the tears rained down the rosy
cheeks unchecked while the dismayed sisters racked their brains for
some soothing remedy to deaden the pain.

"Try this," suggested Susie, hurrying out of the pantry with a can of
baking powder in her hand, vaguely recalling that some kind of white
powder used in cooking was good for burns.

"I will not," sobbed Irene angrily. "You don't know what it will do.
You're just guessing."

"Gloriana put coal oil on Toady's foot," timidly began Inez, half
distracted at having been the cause of all her sister's woe.

"And you think I'll stick my _tongue_ in _that_?" roared the usually
gentle twin so savagely that both her companions fell silent, perplexed
at the unhappy situation.

Meanwhile the bubbling syrup had been forgotten, and with an ominous
hiss and a pungent odor, the seething mass boiled over the top of the
kettle and was promptly licked up by the eager flames of the stove. A
great cloud of smoke filled the kitchen, and the paralyzed girls awoke
to their danger with a sickening horror.

"Oh, oh, oh!" they screamed in frenzy. "The house will catch! We'll
all be burned up! What will mamma say?"

"Hush! Shut up! Give me your apron!" commanded an authoritative voice
behind them, and a big, shabby stranger rushed past them, snatched
Susie's apron, gave a deft twist to the flaming burner, seized the
smoking kettle, and vanished through the kitchen door before any of the
sisters realized what had happened. He was soon back with the
blackened pot in his hands and a reassuring smile on his lips. "It's
all right, kids," he announced cheerily, noting the terror in their
faces. "No harm's done. It won't take but a few minutes to clean up
that stove and pan and no one will be the wiser. You are housekeeping
by yourselves to-day, I see." His quick, restless, eager eyes had
noted the tell-tale signs of mischief about him before he hazarded that
remark.

"Yes, oh, yes!" breathed Susie in great relief. "Tabitha's taken the
rest of the children down to the river, and we're all alone."

"The river?"

"The Colorad