Puff! puff!
out came the smoke; fizz--crack--sputter--went the dry fir branches, as
if they were Christmas fireworks.
"Haven't we made a blazey fire, Aunt Emma?" said Olly, out of breath
with dragging up sticks, and standing still to look.
"Splendid," said Mr. Norton, who had just come out of the wood with his
bundle. "Now, Olly, let me just put you on the top of it to finish it
off. How you would fizz!"
Off ran Olly, with his father after him, and they had a romp among the
heather till Mr. Norton caught him, and carried him kicking and laughing
under his arm to Aunt Emma.
"Now, Aunt Emma, shall I put him on?"
"Oh dear, no!" said Aunt Emma, "my kettle wouldn't sit straight on him,
and it's just boiling beautifully. We'll put him on presently when the
fire gets low."
"Olly, do come and help mother and me with the tea-things," cried Milly,
who was laying the cloth as busily and gravely as a little housemaid.
"Run along, shrimp," said his father, setting him down.
And off ran Olly, while Mr. Norton and Aunt Emma heaped the wood on the
fire, and kept the kettle straight, so that it shouldn't tip over and
spill.
Laying the cloth was delightful, Milly thought. First of all, they put a
heavy stone on each corner of the cloth to keep it down, and prevent the
wind from blowing it up, and then they put the little plates all round,
and in the middle two piles of bread and butter and cake.
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