, or you'll be burnt up!" screamed Mrs. Felton.

"Go on an' git the water pails!" said the farmer. "Fill everything with
water. An' bring a rag carpet, an' I'll soak thet too!"

He already had an old patch of carpet used at the doorstep in his hand,
and this he soused in the watering trough as he passed. Then he ran into
the open barn and mounted to the loft.

The fire was in a patch of hay at one end of the loft, close to an open
window. Regardless of his personal safety, Abner Balberry leaped in and
threw part of the hay out of the window. Then he began to beat out the
fire with the water-soaked carpet.

"Here's some water," came timidly from below, and Mrs. Felton appeared
with two pails full to the brim. He took these upstairs and dashed them
on the flames.

"You look out or you'll be burnt up!" cried the housekeeper. She was
trembling to such a degree that she could scarcely stand.

"Git some more water," was Abner Balberry's only reply. The thought that
his barn might be totally destroyed filled him with dread, for there was
no insurance on the structure--he being too miserly to pay the premium
demanded by the insurance company.

More water was procured by Mrs. Felton, and at last it was apparent that
the farmer was getting the best of the fire. He worked hard and did not
seem to mind the fact that his eyebrows were singed and his hands
slightly blistered.

"There! now I've got it!" he sighed at last.

"Are you sure?" asked the housekeeper in a faint voice.

"Yes, but I'm a-goin' to hunt around fer sparks. Git some more water."

Additional water was soon at hand, and Abner Balberry began a minute
search of the whole loft, on the lookout for stray sparks. A few were
found and extinguished, and then the excitement came to an end.

"How thankful I am that the barn didn't burn down," said the
housekeeper, as the farmer came below and began to bathe his face and
hands.

"It was hot work."

"Are you burnt much?"

"More'n I want to be. Jest wait till I catch Nat!"

"Do you think----" began the housekeeper.

"O' course I do!" snorted Abner Balberry. "Didn't I see him a-runnin'
away from the barn?"

"I never thought Nat would be wicked enough to set a barn on fire."

"He was mad because I wouldn't give him no supper. He's a young rascal,
he is!"

"But to burn a barn!"

"Thet boy has got to be taken in hand, Mrs. Felton. I've let him have
his own way too much. I'm goin' to lay down the law good an