Blake and Joe now took them from the lockers and laid them where they could be gotten at instantly.
"I saw a fire once," remarked little Charlie, who was an interested observer of the fearsome scene.
"Did you?" asked C. C., who had taken a great liking to the small chap. "Where?"
"Our barn burned up," the child went on, "but pa, he got our horse out, and the cow."
"He must have lived on a farm," said the actor to the boys, "and yet that upside-down house we took him from didn't look like a farm dwelling. It was more like a city place."
"He may have lived on a farm when he was younger," observed Blake. "I wonder if we'll ever find his folks?"
No one answered him, for they were all intent on watching the fire. Five houses were now ablaze, and people were jumping from all of them, so that the men in the boats had all they could do to make the rescues. Farther along the row of dwellings, persons were preparing to leave, for it was evident that nothing could save their homes except a change of wind.
But boats were needed to enable them to get safely away, and it seemed there were not enough craft. True, the water was not more than three
