ldren were safe and happy, playing in the snow,
and Maria was alone in the house. When she saw smoke creeping out
around the door of Miss Davis' schoolroom, Maria lost her head entirely.

"Fire!" she screamed, rushing out on the porch and beckoning to the
children. "The school's on fire!"

But when they came rushing toward her, pellmell, she seemed to remember
what she ought to do.

[Illustration: They came rushing toward her, pellmell.]

"You can't come in," she told them, as they gathered at the bottom of
the porch steps. "You can't come in, because you'll get burned! The
school is on fire."

She opened the door behind her and, sure enough, out poured smoke.

"My coat!" wailed Jessie Smiley. "My lovely new coat. Santa Claus
brought it to me for Christmas and it has real beaver fur on the
collar! Oh, oh, I don't want my coat burned up! And my rubbers are
brand new, too."

"I'll get them for you," promised Sunny Boy. "Don't cry, Jessie. I
know where they are in the cloakroom."

"Will you get my rubbers, too?" asked Jessie, smiling through her tears.

"Yes, I'll get everything," said Sunny Boy.

"You can't go in there, it's on fire!" screamed Maria, when he ran up
the steps. "Sunny Boy, I tell you the school is burning up! Come back
here!"

But Sunny Boy opened the door and ran in past her. He knew that Jessie
Smiley was very proud of her new winter coat with its pretty beaver
collar.

The house was full of smoke, and it made Sunny Boy choke and gasp, but
he shut his eyes and felt his way to Miss Davis' room. The smoke was
worse in here than in the hall, and his eyes smarted and burned as he
crept slowly to the cloakroom. In there there was not so much smoke,
and he had no trouble at all in pulling Jessie's coat down from the
hook where it hung, and he found her rubbers on the floor. He stuffed
one in each pocket. Then he started back.

His eyes hurt so badly that, brave little boy as he was, he began to
cry.

"I can't breathe!" he sobbed. "I wish I had a drink of water."

"George!" suddenly shouted a big voice in his ear. "Say, George, here
he is! I've found him!"

Somebody grabbed Sunny Boy up in strong, rough arms and he was carried
swiftly through the halls and out to the porch again. The children
shouted when they saw him.

"Don't you know any better than to go into a house that is on fire?"
said a big, rough voice that seemed to belong to the big arms.

Sunny Boy opened