"Do you have to tie it same as Uncle Fred tied his cow ponies?" asked Vi.
"Pretty near the same," her biggest brother answered. "And after a while we'll——"
Russ stopped suddenly and looked at his sister Rose. She had just passed some of the cookies to Mun Bun and Margy, and was getting ready to hand one each to Laddie and Vi, when she saw something that made her point to the big brick chimney which passed through the roof in the middle of the attic.
"Look! Look!" exclaimed Rose.
"What's the matter?" asked Russ.
"The chimney! It's smoking!" went on Rose.
"That's what chimbleys is for," said Laddie. "I know a funny riddle about smoke in a chimbley and——"
"But the smoke from the chimney shouldn't come out into the room or the attic," interrupted Rose. "I can smell it, and I can see it! Oh, Russ!" she cried.
"Yes, you can see it and smell it!" agreed Russ. As he spoke quite a puff of thick smoke came into the attic. It seemed to spurt right out of the side of the chimney, at a place where some bricks were rather loose and had large cracks between them.
"Oh, Russ!" cried Rose. "Maybe the house is on fire!"