Dave was anxious to do this. They ran the Ariel safely out of range of danger. Then they lifted Hiram and carried him in the direction of the house. By this time some field workers, near by and on neighboring farms, came running to the spot. They got rakes and bags and beat out the dry stubble surrounding the stacks, which had become ignited.
They put Hiram on a bench near the well, and the farmer filled a pail, and wetting his big handkerchief applied it to the head of the insensible lad. Its effect was noticed at once.
“Hello!” cried Hiram, sitting up and opening his eyes. “Where did those rascals get to, Dave? Oh, I remember now!” Then his glance swept the blazing mass two hundred yards away. “Oh, Dave!” he exclaimed, the tears coming to his eyes. “I did what I could, but the Ariel is gone up!”
“No, ’tain’t—your partner saved it!” spoke the farmer quickly.
At that glad news Hiram struggled to his feet. He was wild-eyed and still unsteady, but his old grit was fast returning.
“Dave,” he cried, “don’t let them get away—the fellows in that big Curtiss, I mean. They set that fire!”
CHAPTER IX
JUST IN TIME
“Who is that man, Hiram?”