The next morning the master came to see how we were and to speak to
James. I did not hear much, for the hostler was rubbing me down, but
I could see that James looked very happy, and I thought the master was
proud of him. Our mistress had been so much alarmed in the night that
the journey was put off till the afternoon, so James had the morning
on hand, and went first to the inn to see about our harness and the
carriage, and then to hear more about the fire. When he came back we
heard him tell the hostler about it. At first no one could guess how the
fire had been caused, but at last a man said he saw Dick Towler go into
the stable with a pipe in his mouth, and when he came out he had not
one, and went to the tap for another. Then the under hostler said he had
asked Dick to go up the ladder to put down some hay, but told him to lay
down his pipe first. Dick denied taking the pipe with him, but no one
believed him. I remember our John Manly's rule, never to allow a pipe in
the stable, and thought it ought to be the rule everywhere.
James said the roof and floor had all fallen in, and that only the black
walls were standing; the two poor horses that could not be got out were
buried under the burnt rafters and tiles.
17 John Manly's Talk
The rest of our journey was very easy, and a little after sunset we
reached the house of my master's friend. We were taken into a clean,
snug stable; there was a kind coachman, who made us very comfortable,
and who seemed to think a good deal of James when he heard about the
fire.
There is one thing quite clear, young man, he said, your horses know
who they can trust; it is one of the hardest things in the world to get
horses out of a stable when there is either fire or flood. I don't know
why they won't come out, but they won't--not one in twenty.
We stopped two or three days at this place and then returned home. All
went well on the journey; we were glad to be in our own stable again,
and John was equally glad to see us.
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