A silence followed. With much slapping of lines and verbal encouragement, Mr. Langer waked his fire horses and set them in motion. In time, even, they broke into an unwieldy trot, jolting and jouncing the stiff-springed dray over the ruts.
"Too much luxury for me!" groaned Bonfire. "I'd rather run alongside than be shaken to pieces."
He dropped from the dray, glancing back down the street.
"Bunny! Oh, Bunny! Look!"
He was standing in the middle of the road, jaw dropped, eyes bulging, forefinger pointed toward the corner from which they had come.
"What's the matter, Bonfire?"
"It's a fire—back there—by the corner! There's a house on fire!"