"I think I did, father," cried Will. "He was busy with a lantern down there by the engine, wiping and oiling the different parts. I asked him to come in, but he only grunted and shook his head." "That's where I found him," chimed in Josh, "when you sent me with a message, father." "Yes, and I saw him there," said Manners. "My word, how he kept the pumpers up to the mark! The water never failed once. Why, you got quite a bargain in the old engine, Mr Willows, and that fellow did it up splendidly." "And worked gloriously," cried Will. "I think, father, he felt ashamed of all he had said, and wanted to put matters right." "I hope so," said Mr Willows; "at any rate I do for my miserable suspicions when the fire broke out." "Don't worry about that," said the Vicar. "It looked horribly black after his threatenings about revenge. But there, that's all past, and thank Heaven you can congratulate yourself upon the good that has arisen out of to-night's dark work." "Dark!" said Manners, wiping his black face. "I think we had too much light." "Not enough to show how that fire broke out," said Mr Willows, gravely. "I cannot understand how it was caused." "Couldn't be a spark left by one of the flashes of lightning in the storms we have had lately, could it?" said Josh, innocently. "No," said Will, mockingly; "but it might have been a star tumbled down." "No, it couldn't!" cried Josh, angrily. "Such stuff! It must have been started somehow." "Yes, my boy," said the Vicar, smiling; "but it is a mystery for the present." "Let it rest," said Mr Willows. "I don't concern myself about that now. I have something else on my mind. I shall not rest, Carlile, till I have thanked that man for all he has done, and shaken him by the hand." "Oh, he'll turn up soon, I daresay," said Manners. "Here, I know! he must have got himself drenched with water." "Of course!" cried Will. "I saw him lower himself down into the hole to move the suction-pipe." "That's it," said Manners, "and he's gone up to the cottage to have a change." "At any rate," said the Vicar, "I feel thankful that the trouble has passed, and I shall be seeing him back at his work to-morrow; eh, Mr Willows?" "I hope so," was the reply. "Now then, we must have three or four watchers for the rest of the night, and those of you who are wet had better see about a change." "Well, I'm one," said Manners, "for I feel like a sponge. I'm off to my diggings, but I shall be back in half an hour to join the watch." "No, no," cried Mr Willows, "you've done enough. I'll see to that." "Yes, yes," cried the artist; "I want to come back and think out my plan for a new picture of the mill on fire. It'll be a bit of history, don't you see, and I want to get the scene well soaked into my mind." "It ought to be burned in already," said Will, laughing. "Perhaps it is," said the artist, merrily; and he hurried away.