David nodded and looked over to the fire, which was not much more than a heap of red coals and white ashes.
The foreman saw where he was looking.
"The fire'll be all right," he said. "It's about out. Now I'll take just one more look around."
So the foreman walked all around the house, slowly, and he looked carefully to make sure that he had not forgotten anything.
And he looked at the cellar door and at the places where the heaps of rubbish had been, and all around the foundations of the house, and at the great hole under the front steps where the steps didn't come down to the ground, and at the fire last of all.
The fire had all burned out to white ashes, and every swirl of the wind made the ashes fly about.
Then the foreman came where David was.
"Now we're going, Davie," he said. "We'll come back some day to build another house next to this one. Will you help us then?"
"Yes," said David, "I'll help you as much as I can. When are you going to build it?"
"Oh, I don't know," the foreman said, "but I should think it would be before long. Somebody's going to move into this house in a few days. We're much obliged to you for helping us build this."