Page 16 - An Amateur Fireman

of the fellers what 'Lish Davis said, that Jip will be sure to hear of it before he goes to bed, an' perhaps that
will be just as well as if you had met him, 'cause there might have been a row. Let's go up and get a bowl of
five-cent soup and a piece of pie. I can stand a ten-cent spread to-night, an' business has been good enough
with you."

To this proposition Seth assented, and the two made their way to a certain restaurant on Chatham Street,
where, after an unusually profitable day's work, they were in the custom of feasting.

If there was any one thing in which Dan Roberts excelled it was in his ability to eat very fast and for a long
while.

He ordered the waiter to bring him the pie and the soup at the same time, and it seemed to Seth as if he had
but just begun before his partner was finished.

"I reckon I can take one more bowl of that soup, an' then be through before you are," he said, thoughtfully. "I
made pretty near forty cents, an' it's kind'er tough if a feller can't spend fifteen of it, eh?"

"Go ahead if you want the soup, an' are willin' to pay for it. It don't make any difference to me, 'cause I'll stay
here till you're filled plum full; but I tell you what it is, Dan, you're gettin' into an awful habit of eatin'."

"Is that what you call a habit?"

"Course it is. If you didn't think about it every minute, you wouldn't be so hungry."

"I'm pretty near starved all the time as it is, an' I don't know how I'd get along with any less," Dan replied
apologetically, and then, the soup having been brought, he gave his undivided attention to the pleasing task.

After the feast the boys, having nothing of special importance to do, lounged leisurely towards their home in
the shed, and it was nearly nine o'clock before they crept into the box that served as chamber, both feeling
tired and sleepy.

Not until they were inside did Seth realize that they had not searched the lumber-yard, and he insisted that
they go at once to make certain no enemy was hidden near at hand.

"What's the use of that?" Dan asked petulantly. "You can be sure Jip Collins ain't anywhere 'round here, 'cause
some of the fellers have told him what we said long before this, an' he'll give the place a wide berth."

"You ain't sure he knows that I told 'Lish Davis 'bout the threats he was makin'."

"Well, he didn't come last night, an' you was the one that said he wouldn't dare to show his nose 'round."

"I know it; but somehow or other, Dan, it seems as if we ought'er look out a little sharper, 'cause he might be
fool enough to try such a game."

"An' if he did after tellin' everybody about it, he'd go up the river ten or fifteen years, sure--I ain't certain but
that it would be a life sentence."

"Yes, I know all that, Dan, but Jip ain't the kind of a feller to figger on sich things, an' if he gets a notion right
solid in his head, there's no knowin' how big a fool he might make of himself, so let's go out an' have a look
'round."

It was with an ill grace that Dan followed Seth, and even then his share in the search was of but little service