so close to him! Nobody forbade him, so Russ went too.

Mr. Armatage and Mr. Bunker got into one of the first cars to start, and
Russ, with a water pail in each hand, got in too. There was a great
noise of shouting and the starting of the motor-cars. Men ran hither and
thither, and all the time the light of the fire down by the stream
increased.

When they were under way, Mr. Armatage's car leading, they found many of
the plantation hands running down the grassy road in advance. The cars
passed these men, Mr. Armatage shouting orders as the car flew by. In
two minutes they came to the clearing in which Mammy June's cabin stood.
One end of the little house was all ablaze.

"The poor soul hasn't got out," cried Mr. Armatage, and with Mr. Bunker
he charged for the door, burst it in, and dashed into the smoke which
filled the interior.

Russ thought that Daddy Bunker was very brave indeed to do this. It
looked to the boy as though both men would be burned by the raging fire.
But he was brave himself. He fought back his tears and ran to the
stream to fill with water both the pails he carried.

When he came staggering back with the filled pails, the water slopping
over his shoes, the first of the hands arrived. One man grabbed Russ's
pails and threw the water upon the burning logs. Such a small amount of
water only made the flames hiss and the logs steam. But soon other
filled pails were brought. More of the cars with guests from the party
arrived, and a chain of men to the stream was formed.