Humph! I wonder if I can trace it. The best thing for me to
do will be to go to Rexton and look at the ruins."
So to Rexton the detective went, and found a large crowd round
the wall of the park. This had been broken down in several
places so as to admit the fire engines, and Jennings found a
policeman on duty who had been one of the first to see the
fire, and who had indeed summoned the brigade. On telling his
name and position, the man was willing to state all he knew.
"I was on duty about eight o'clock," he said officially.
"There was a high wind blowing, but the night was fine and
dry. While walking down Crooked Lane, intending to take the
path to the station, I saw a light behind the wall of the
park. Then a tongue of flame shot up, and it didn't need much
cleverness to see that the old house was on fire. Almost
before I could collect my wits, sir, the place was in a blaze.
You see the dry weather, the heat and the high wind, made
everything blaze finely. I signalled for the brigade, and it
came up as soon as possible. But as there is no gate in the
wall, we had to break it down to get the engines in. There
was a large crowd by this time, and we had all the help we
needed. By this time the whole house was flaming like a
bonfire. When we got the wall down the most part of the house
was gone, and the fire had caught the surrounding shrubs, so
all we could do was to halt on the edge of the mass and squirt
water, in the hope of putting out the flames.
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