A rick burns differently from a house.

As the wind blows the fire inwards, the portion in flames completely disappears like melting sugar, and the outline is lost to the eye.

However, a hay or a wheat-rick, well put together, will resist combustion for a length of time, if it begins on the outside.
This before Gabriel's eyes was a rick of straw, loosely put together, and the flames darted into it with lightning swiftness.

It glowed on the windward side, rising and falling in intensity, like the coal of a cigar.

Then a superincumbent bundle rolled down, with a whisking noise; flames elongated, and bent themselves about with a quiet roar, but no crackle.