f the barns, and the one, too, which was nearest and most
exposed to the burning building and its flying cinders. The rope was on
hand, and the broom, by the time the ladder was in position.

"Ford," said Dab, "you and Frank help the girls bring water, till the
men from the village get here. There's plenty of pails, but every one of
our hands is away.--Now, Ham, I'm ready."

Up they went, and were quickly astride of the ridge of the roof. It
would have been perilous work for any man to have ventured farther
unassisted; but Dab tied one end of the rope firmly around his waist,
Ham tied himself to the other, and then Dab could slip down the steep
roof, in any direction, without danger of slipping off to the ground
below.

But the broom?

It was as useful as a small fire-engine. The flying cinders of burning
hay or wood, as they alighted upon the sun-dried shingles of the roof,
needed to be swept off as fast as they fell, before they had time to
fulfil their errand of mischief. Here and there they had been at work
for some minutes, and the fresh little blazes they had kindled had so
good a start, that the broom alone would have been insufficient; and
there the rapidly-arriving pails of water came into capital play.

Ford Foster had never shone out to so good an advantage in all his life
before, as he did when he took his station on the upper rounds of that
ladder, and risked his neck to hand water-pails to Ham. It was hard
work, all around, but hardest of all for the two "firemen" on the roof.
Now and then the strength and agility of Ham Morris were put to pretty
severe tests, as Dab danced around under the scorching heat, or slipped
flat upon the sloping roof. It was well for Ham that he was a man of
weight and substance.

There were scores and scores of people streaming up from the village
now, arriving in panting squads, every moment; and Mrs. Kinzer had all
she could do to keep them from "rescuing" every atom of her furniture
out of the house, and piling it up in the road.

"Wait, please," she said to them very calmly.

"If Ham and Dab save the long barn, the fire won't spread any farther.
The old barn won't be any loss to speak of, anyhow."

Fiercely as the dry old barn burned, it used itself up all the quicker
on that account; and it was less than thirty minutes from the time Ham
and Dabney got at work before roof and rafters fell in, and the worst of
the danger was over. The men and boys from the village w