“Why, you’re carpenter and joiner to the works now, Hicky!” said Dick, laughing.
“Ay, lad, that’s it, and I don’t fear for nowt.”
It was less than a fortnight after, that Dick lay asleep one night and dreaming of being in a boat on the mere, or one of its many additional pools, when he started into wakefulness with the impression that the house was coming down.
“Eh? What is it?” he cried, as there was a heavy thumping on the wall close to his bed’s head.
“Get up—fire!” came in muffled tones; and bounding out of bed he saw that there was a lurid light on the water, evidently reflected from something burning pretty near at hand, while there was the distant hum of voices, mingled with shrieks and the barking of a dog.
Dick began hurriedly dressing, and threw open the window, to find that the dog was Grip, who was out in the yard barking frantically, as if to alarm the house.
“What is it, father? Where?” cried Dick.
“Don’t know; not here. Labourers’ cottages, I think,” replied the squire, who was still dressing. Then, as a burst of flame seemed to rush up skyward, and a cloud of brilliant sparks floated away, he added, “Dick, my lad, it is poor Hickathrift’s turn now.”
He was quite right, for as they ran the few hundred yards which separated them from the burning place, it was to find that the poor fellow’s house, work-shed, stock of wood, peat-stack, and out-buildings were in a blaze; even his punt, which had been brought up for its annual repair and pitching, blazing furiously.
Hickathrift, Jacob, Mrs Hickathrift, and the farm people were all at work with buckets, which they handed along from the dipping place by the old willows; but at the first glance the squire saw that it was in vain, and that the fire had taken such hold that nothing could be saved. Both he and Dick, however, joined in the efforts, saying nothing but working with all their might, the squire taking Jacob’s place and dipping the water, while the apprentice and Dick helped to pass the full buckets along and the empty back, for they were not enough to form a double line.