in the field opposite the stables the whole population was
gathered, illuminated figures in eager, chattering groups. From the pump
on the green in front of the schoolhouse, a chain of helpers had been
formed, and buckets of water were being passed along from hand to hand
to the engines; and there was no other water. The engines were working
farther down the road, keeping the hose turned on to the trees between
the stables and the house. There were clumps of pine-trees among them,
and these were the trees that would carry the fire across to Axel's
house. Men in the garden were hacking at them, the blows of their axes
indistinguishable in the uproar, but every now and then one of the
victims fell with a crash among its fellows still standing behind it.

"Oh, poor Axel, poor Axel!" murmured Anna, drawing her scarf across her
face as she passed along to protect it from the intolerable heat. But
she was an unmistakable figure in her blue cloak and white dress,
stumbling on to where the engines were; and the groups of onlookers
nudged each other and turned to stare after her as she passed.

"How did it happen?" she asked, suddenly stopping before a knot of
women. They were in the act of discussing her, and started and looked
foolish.

"No one knows," said the eldest, when Anna repeated her question. "They
say it was done on purpose."

"Done on purpose!" echoed Anna, staring at the speaker. "Why, who would
set fire to a place on purpose?"

But to this question no reply at all was forthcoming. They fidgeted and
looked at each other, and one of the younger ones tittered and then put
her hand before her mouth.

In the potato field across the road, two storks, whose nest for many
springs had been on one of the roofs now burning, had placed their young
ones in safety and were watching over them. The young storks were only a
few days old, and had been thrown out of the nest by the parents, and
then dragged away out of danger into the field, the parents mounting
guard over their bruised and dislocated offspring, and the whole group
transformed in the glow into a beautiful, rosy, dazzling white, into a
family of spiritualised, glorified storks, as they huddled ruefully
together in their place of refuge. Anna saw them without knowing that
she saw them; there were three little ones, and one was dead. The
princess and Letty found her standing beside them, watching the roaring
furnace of the stableyard with parted lips and wide-op