Page 107 - An Amateur Fireman

"Here's the kid I was telling you about," he said, and then Seth was left to fight his own battle.

That going to school was not as hard as he had fancied was known at the engine-house when the amateur
returned shortly after nine o'clock, for then he said with an air of relief:

"I ain't so certain but that I'll like it, after I kind-er get the hang of things."

"Course you will, Amateur, course you will; but it's bound to be hard work, and there don't seem to be much
chance for play in your life the way we've mapped it out for you. All hands of us have been figgering how
we'd kind-er let up on you, and it's been decided that you shall sleep here every Saturday night. What calls
come in 'twixt the ending of the school business and midnight, you're to answer as if belonging reg'larly to the
company."

Seth's eyes glistened with delight, and when he had gone to his room the driver said in a tone of satisfaction to
his comrades:

"That kid is bound to make his mark in the Department some day, and we'll be patting ourselves on the head
for having given him a show. Just think of a boy like him being tickled way up in G when you give him a
chance to work at a fire! He was reg'larly born for the business."

When Seth arrived at Mrs. Hanson's he found his roommates awaiting his arrival.

"Didn't you find Sam?" he asked in surprise that they should have returned so soon.

"That's what we did; met him down by the post-office where there was a whole crowd of the fellers, an' by
this time I reckon he don't think he's a terrible big man."

"What did he say 'bout givin' Joe Carter sich a yarn?"

"First off he tried to say it wasn't so; but when we flashed up the letter, it was all over, an' the chump couldn't
so much as yip, 'cept to promise to pay the bill with the very first money he could scrape together."

"Then you didn't have any row?"

"Not a bit of it."

"I was 'fraid you might thump him, an' the perlice would jump in."

"We didn't reckon on bein' jugged jest 'cause of him," Bill replied, quietly. "Instead of fightin', Dan jest
shoved him inside the post-office quick-like an' I let him have a couple of mighty good clips alongside the
head. When he yelled, we lit out an' come up here. If it hadn't been that you're tryin' so hard to get into the
Department, we might er had a row with the duffer; but seein's anythin' of the kind would give you a black
eye, we kept quiet."

Dan and Master Dean both appeared to think they deserved praise for having been so cautious, and Seth did
not believe it would be wise to reproach them for what had been done.

After this affair there was nothing out of the ordinary in Seth's life for ten days or more, except during the two
Saturday nights he slept at Ninety-four's house, where on each occasion it was his good fortune to go out with
the engine.

At headquarters Mr. Fernald pushed him along in the drill as rapidly as possible, and he was allowed to devote