sky. And we had left it,a smouldering flat heap.

'The clay must have caught alight,' H. O. said. 'Perhaps it's the kind
that burns. I know I've heard of fireclay. And there's another sort you
can eat.'

'Oh, shut up!' Dicky said with anxious scorn.

With one accord we turned back. We all felt THE feeling--the one that
means something fatal being up and it being your fault.

'Perhaps, Alice said, 'a beautiful young lady in a muslin dress was
passing by, and a spark flew on to her, and now she is rolling in agony
enveloped in flames.'

We could not see the fire now, because of the corner of the wood, but we
hoped Alice was mistaken.

But when we got in sight of the scene of our pottering industry we saw
it was as bad nearly as Alice's wild dream. For the wooden fence leading
up to the bridge had caught fire, and it was burning like billy oh.

Oswald started to run; so did the others. As he ran he said to himself,
'This is no time to think about your clothes. Oswald, be bold!'

And he was.

Arrived at the site of the conflagration, he saw that caps or straw hats
full of water, however quickly and perseveringly given, would never put
the bridge out, and his eventful past life made him know exactly the
sort of wigging you get for an accident like this.

So he said, 'Dicky, soak your jacket and mine in the stream and chuck
them along. Alice, stand clear, or your silly girl's clothes'll catch as
sure as fate.'

Dicky and Oswald tore off their jackets, so did Denny, but we would not
let him and H. O. wet theirs. Then the brave Oswald advanced warily to
the end of the burning rails and put his wet jacket over the end bit,
like a linseed poultice on the throat of a suffering invalid who has
got bronchitis. The burning wood hissed and smouldered, and Oswald fell
back, almost choked with the smoke. But at once he caught up the other
wet jacket and put it on another place, and of course it did the trick
as he had known it would do. But it was a long job, and the smoke in his
eyes made the young hero obliged to let Dicky and Denny take a turn
as they had bothered to do from the first. At last all was safe; the
devouring element was conquered. We covered up the beastly bonfire with
clay to keep it from getting into mischief again, and then Alice said--

'Now we must go and tell.'

'Of course,' Oswald said shortly. He had meant to tell all the time.

So we went to the farmer who has the Moat House Farm, and we went at