Polly joined him, and they sang and shrilled, and shrieked it; they jumped up and down and laughed and repeated it again and again.  Kate guided George to his room and gave him a shove that landed him on his bed.  Then to hush the children she called them to supper.  They stopped suddenly, as soon as they entered the kitchen door, and sat, sorry and ashamed while she went around, her face white, her lips closed, preparing their food.  George was asleep.  The children ate alone, as she could take no food.  Later she cleaned the kitchen, put the children to bed, and sat on the front porch looking at the mill, wondering, hoping, planning, praying unconsciously.  When she went to bed at ten o’clock George was still asleep.

He awakened shortly after, burning with heat and thirst.  He arose and slipped to the back porch for a drink.  Water was such an aggravation, he crossed the yard, went out the back gate, and down the alley.  When he came back up the street, he was pompously, maliciously, dangerously drunk.  Either less or more would have been better.  When he came in sight of the mill, standing new and shining in the moonlight, he was a lord of creation, ready to work creation to his will.  He would go over and see if things were all right.  But he did not cross the bridge, he went down the side street, and entered the yard at the back.  The doors were closed and locked, but there was as yet no latch on the sliding windows above the work bench.  He could push them open from the ground.  He leaned a board against the side of the mill, set his foot on it, and pulled himself up, so that he could climb on the bench.

That much achieved, he looked around him.  After a time his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, so that he could see his way plainly.  Muddled half-thoughts began to filter through his brain.  He remembered he was abused.  He was out of it.  He remembered that he was not the buyer for the mill.  He remembered how the men had laughed when he had said that he was to be the salesman.  He remembered that Milton had said that he was not to touch the machinery.  He at once slid from the bench and went to the boiler.  He opened the door of the fire-box and saw the kindling laid ready to light, to get up steam.  He looked at the big log on the set carriage.  They had planned to start with a splurge in the morning.  Kate was to open the throttle that started the machinery.  He decided to show them that they were not so smart.  He would give them a good surprise by sawing the log.  That would be a joke on them to brag about the remainder of his life.  He took matches from his pocket and started the fire.  It seemed to his fevered imagination that it burned far too slowly.  He shoved in more kindling, shavings, ends left from siding.  This smothered his fire, so he made trip after trip to the tinder box, piling in armloads of dry, inflammable stuff.

Then suddenly the flames leaped up.  He slammed shut the door and started toward the saw.  He could not make it work.  He jammed and pulled everything he could reach.  Soon he realized the heat was becoming intense, and turned to the boiler to see that the fire-box was red hot almost all over, white hot in places.