few minutes the little village was in a raging conflagration. Every house was burned, and the stockade was destroyed in many places. Some even lost their bedding in the confusion. Ralph Morton was well supplied with blankets, and had presence of mind enough to get them out of the burning cabin, and to carry them and his little chest down to the water's edge to escape the intense heat. But his little shelf of books was destroyed. The chaplain of the colony, Mr. Robert Hunt, had a considerable library, which was destroyed, to his great grief, and not a little to Ralph's sorrow, as the good parson was almost as much pleased to loan the books to Ralph as to use them himself. Fortunately, most of the corn remained still in the pinnace, and most of the stores in the ship, or the colony would soon have starved outright.
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