the mill, listening to the whir of the saws and watching
the "cut" as it was rolled away and was made
to feed the huge piles of lumber and timber flanking
the runway and far enough away from the huge
stack to be out of the way of treacherous sparks; and
at night they sat around Jackson's constantly replenished
fire and told stories of their college days or
revived the current gossip of the club and the Street.

Muggles ruminated over each and every experience
--all new to him--and kept his eyes open for the
psychological moment when he would burst asunder
the bonds of conventionality and rise to the full
measure of his abilities. The Clanworthys had swung
battle-axes and ridden milk-white chargers into the
thickest of the fray. His turn would come; he felt
it in his knee: then these unbelievers would be
silenced.

His host interested him enormously, especially his
masterful way of handling his men. He himself had
been elected foreman of Hose Carriage No. 1 in the
village near his father's country seat, and still held
that important office. His cape and fire-boots fitted
him to a nicety, and so did his helmet. No. 1 had
been called out but once in its history, and then to
the relief of a barn which, having lost heart before the
rescuers reached it, had sunk to the ground in despair
and there covered itself with ashes. He had been criticised,
he remembered, much to his chagrin, for the