Loony John was willing—none more so—and very soon the echoes were repeating:
"May the Lord protect him! May the Lord protect him!"
At the entrance of the village where the doctor lived, a house was on fire, and a crowd of people were trying to put it out. Some wicked person had set it on fire and he had been caught. He was safely tied, and those who were not helping to put out the fire were engaged in jeering and insulting the wicked incendiary.
Loony John also wanted to see the culprit, but for fear he would forget what he had been told to say, he kept on repeating:
"May the Lord protect him! May the Lord protect him!"
The crowd was indignant, and on all sides were heard cries of "Here is his accomplice!" Immediately Loony John was seized and beaten, and, in spite of his tears and entreaties, was thrown into prison.
How he escaped need not be told. There is an old saying, "A fool for luck!" and it is a true one. Loony John got back home somehow.
Some time afterward Easter Sunday came, and when Loony John's mother started to church she said:
"Above all things, don't forget to put the hen in the stew-pan."