ttle enough time at the
task. Jud Harkness allowed them what he thought was a reasonable time,
and then he arose, stretched his great arms, and roared out his
commands.

"Come on, now, all hands to work!" he bellowed. "We've got to get all
this rubbish cleared out, then we'll have clean decks for building."

And they fell to with a will. In a surprisingly short space of time the
men who had plunged into the ruined foundations of the house had torn
out the remaining beams and rafters, and had flung the heap of rubbish
that filled the cellar on to the level ground. While some of the men did
this, others piled the rubbish on to wagons, and it was carted away and
dumped. The fire, however, had really lightened their task for them.

"That fire was so hot and so fierce," said Eleanor, as she watched them
working, "that there's less rubbish than if the things had been only
half burned."

"I've seen fires in the city," said Margery, "or, at least, houses after
a fire. And it really looked worse than this, because there'd be a whole
lot of things that had started to burn. Then the firemen came along, to
put out the fire, and though the things weren't really any good, they
had to be carted away."

"Yes, but this fire made a clean sweep wherever it started at all. Ashes
are easier to handle than sticks and half ruined pieces of furniture. As
long as it had to come, I guess it's a good thing that it was such a hot
blaze."

The work of clearing away, therefore, which had to be done, of course,
before any actual building could be begun, was soon accomplished.

"We're going to build just the way Tom Pratt did," said Jud Harkness. He
was the principal carpenter and builder of Lake Dean, and a master
workman. Many of the camps and cottages on the lake had been built by
him, and he was, therefore, accustomed to such work.

"You mean you're going to put up a square house?" said Eleanor.

"Yes, ma'am, just a square house, with a hall running right through from
the front to the back, and an extension in the rear for a kitchen--just
a shack, that will be. Two floors--two rooms on each side of the hall on
each floor. That'll give them eight rooms to start with, beside the
kitchen."

"That'll be fine, and it will really be the easiest thing to do, too."

"That's what we're figuring, ma'am. You see, it'll be just as it was
when Tom Pratt first built here, except that he only put up one story at
first. Then, as Mis' Pratt gets thing