came out upon the platform; but
there was an immense amount of "welcome" expressed in words and hugs and
kisses, in the shortest possible space of time. There was no lingering
on the platform, however; for Ham and his wife were as anxious to get at
the "surprise" they were told was waiting for them, as their friends
were to have them come to it.

Before they were half way home, the growing light ahead of them
attracted their attention; and then they began to hear the vigorous
shouts of "Fire!" from the throats of the two boys, re-enforced now by
Mr. Foster himself, and the lawyer's voice was an uncommonly good one.
Dabney was driving the ponies, and they had to go pretty fast for the
rest of that short run.

"Surprise?" exclaimed Ham. "I should say it was! Did you light it before
you started, Dabney?"

"Don't joke, Hamilton," remarked Mrs. Kinzer. "It may be a very serious
affair for all of us. But I can't understand how in all the world that
barn should have caught fire."

"Guess it was set a-going," said Dab.

CHAPTER XVI.

DAB KINZER AND HAM MORRIS TURN INTO A FIRE-DEPARTMENT.

The Morris farm, as has been said, was a pretty large one; and the same
tendency on the part of its owners which led them to put up so extensive
and barn-like a house, had stimulated them from time to time to make the
most liberal provisions for the storage of their crops. Barns were a
family weakness with them, as furniture had been with the Kinzers. The
first barn they had put up, now the oldest and the farthest from the
house, had been a large one. It was now in a somewhat dilapidated
condition, to be sure, and was bowed a little northerly by the weight of
years that rested on it; but it had still some hope of future usefulness
if it had not been for that tramp and his box of matches.

"There isn't a bit of use in trying to save it!" exclaimed Ham, as they
were whirled in through the wide-open gate. "It's gone!"

"But, Ham," said Mrs. Kinzer, "we can save the other barns perhaps. Look
at the cinders falling on the long stable. If we could keep them off
somehow!"

"We can do it, Ham," exclaimed Dab, very earnestly. "Mother, will you
send me out a broom and a rope, while Ham and I set up the ladder?"

"You're the boy for me," said Ham. "I guess I know what you're up to."

The ladder was one the house-painters had been using, and was a pretty
heavy one; but it was quickly set up against the largest and most
valuable o