“Golly!” the latter exclaimed as he saw the black smoke. “Look at ’er burn!”
The remark infuriated Dan.
“And whose fault is it?” he demanded, wiping a smudge off his cheek. “If you had cleaned away the brush the way you were supposed to, the fire wouldn’t have spread so fast.”
“I did clean it up,” Ross said defiantly.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“All by yourself?”
“All by myself,” Ross repeated. “I worked nearly two hours and half killed myself.”
Dan allowed the matter to pass. Ross might be telling the truth. Since he claimed to have worked alone, no one could prove or disprove his assertion. In any case, it didn’t much matter now, for the damage had been done.
“Grab a bucket, and get to work!” he advised. “It’s going to be nip and tuck to check that fire.”