14 TEE LIFE OP TEE FIELDS. 



ten o'clock he was trudging into the town ; his mind 

 had been half-crazed with anxiety for his ricks ; he was 

 not insured, he had never insured, just to save the few 

 shillings it cost, such was the nibbling by which he 

 lived. He had struggled hard and kept the secret to 

 himself — of the non-insurance — he foresaw that if 

 known he should immediately suffer. But at the 

 town the insurance agent demurred to issue a policy. 

 The losses had been so heavy, there was no knowing 

 how much farther the loss might extend, for not the 

 slightest trace of the incendiary had yet been dis- 

 covered, notwithstanding the reward offered, and this 

 was a new policy. Had it been to add to an old one, 

 had Mr. Roberts insured in previous years, it would 

 have been different. He could not do it on his own 

 responsibility, he must communicate with the head 

 office ; most likely they would do it, but he must have 

 their authority. By return of post he should know. 

 Mr. Roberts trudged home again, with the misery of 

 two more nights confronting him; two more nights of 

 exposure to the chance of utter ruin. If those ricks 

 were burned, the savings — the nibblings of his life — 

 were gone. This intense, frost-bitten economy, by 

 which alone he had been able to prosper, now threat- 

 ened to overwhelm him with destruction. 



There is nothing that burns so resolutely as a hay- 

 rick; nothing that catches fire so easily. Children 

 are playing with matches ; one holds the ignited match 

 till it scorches the fingers, and then drops it. The 

 expiring flame touches three blades of dry grass, of hay 

 fallen from the rick, these flare immediately ; the flame 

 runs along like a train of gunpowder, rushes up the 



