"
"But if they put it on hot, it will burn the wood," said Marco.
"Yes," replied Forester, "it will burn the wood a little. They can not
help that entirely; but they stand ready with water, to pour on, as
soon as the tire is in its place, and so cool it immediately, so that
it does not burn the fellies enough to injure them."
"What are the fellies?" asked Marco.
"They are the parts of the wooden rim of the wheel. The rim is made of
several pieces of wood, which are called fellies."
So Forester took Marco to the wheel, and showed him the parts of
which the rim was composed. While Marco was looking at the wheel, the
blacksmith began to push away the burning brands a little from the
tire, as it began to be hot enough. Presently he went into his shop
and brought out several pairs of tongs. With these the men lifted the
tire out of the fire, but the blacksmith said it was a little too hot,
and he must let it cool a minute or two.
"Why, if it's very hot," said Marco, "it will grip the wheel all the
harder."
"It will grip it _too_ hard," said Forester. "Sometimes a tire
shrinks so much as to spring the spokes out of shape. Didn't you ever
see a wheel with the spokes bent out of shape?"
"I don't know," said Marco. "I never noticed wheels much.
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