It made a pile in the muck of the cow-yard, whence the men had led the horses, wheeled out the mowing machine and carriage, and removed the baled hay and straw.
At first the blazing wisps were extinguished, as the cow-yard was wet, but, as more and more of the hay and straw fell, there gradually grew a pile of blazing hot embers. But, worse than all, was the curtain of fire that shut off escape by the big doors.
"What are we going to do?" asked Vincent, his face white with fear.
"We are up against it," replied Bert, speaking more calmly than would have been possible for most lads. But Herbert Dare was unusually cool-headed, a fact which later stood him in good service.
"Maybe the stairs are safe now," suggested Vincent.
It needed but a look at them to show that they were almost burned away.
"No escape there," decided Bert.
"Isn't there an end door?"
"One, up in the loft, but it's thirty feet from the ground and that's too much of a jump. Besides, we can't get into the loft now. It's a mass of flames."
"Then we've got to jump through the big doors and take our chances with the fire!" declared Vincent.