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Dick staggered away, and nearly fell from the tremendous thrust given to him by the big wheelwright, and as he regained his equilibrium, it was to see Hickathrift with something flashing in his hand, making for the other end of the stable, which was as yet untouched.
A few blows from the axe he carried made the rough mud wall collapse, and, without a moment's hesitation Hickathrift forced his way through the hole he had broken, and from which a great volume of smoke began to curl.
Fortunately, however, the supply of water was ample, and, thanks to the way in which Hickathrift dipped the buckets and encouraged the men as he passed them along, the thatch became so saturated that by the time quite a stack had been made of the indoor valuables there seemed to be a chance to leave the steaming roof and attack the burning stacks.
But it was at none of these that Dick looked so earnestly, but at the 'coy-man's old well-rubbed gun hanging in a pair of slings cut from some old boot, and tempting the lad as, under the circumstances, a gun would tempt. Hickathrift had refused to lend him one, badly as he wanted it; and here by accident was the very thing he wanted staring at him almost as if asking him to take it.
"Do you think the fish-ponds are covered, father?" "Five or six feet deep, my boy." "Then the fish will get out." "Very likely Dick; but we've something more important to think about than fish. Hark! what's that?" and he listened. "Ahoy!" roared Hickathrift from just behind them. "Hear that, squire?" "Yes, my lad, I heard a cry from off the water."
At times the poles touched a good firm tuft of heath or a patch of gravel, and the boat received a good thrust forward; at other times, when the bottom was soft, Hickathrift struck the water with it right and left as he stood up in the prow, using it as a kind of paddle.
But, gentle as was the wheelwright's act, it roused the injured man, who seemed to be driven into a fit of fury by the pain he suffered, and he burst into a torrent of bad language against Hickathrift and the two boys, which he kept up till he had been carried into his lodging and laid upon his bed.
But they had not partaken of many mouthfuls before they heard the squire's voice outside, in hurried conversation with Hickathrift. "Yes, I sent him off directly on the cob," the squire said; "but it must be some hours before the doctor can get here." "Think he's very badly, squire?" came next, in Hickathrift's deep bass.
Hickathrift turned sharply to say something; but he could only utter a great gulp, and, turning away, he went a few yards, and leaned his head upon his arm against a willow tree, and in the bright glow of the burning building, whose gilded smoke rose up like some vast plume, they could see his shoulders heave, while his wife turned to the squire, and in a simple, homely fashion, kissed his hand.
As soon as he could recover himself, Dick turned to rush in again; but he was checked by Hickathrift. "Stand back, bairn! art mad?" he cried. "Not that way."
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