Page 99 - An Amateur Fireman

"I didn't try; but when I started in without bein' mixed up with a crowd of duffers like you, I soon put the thing
through."

"Yes, it was big detective work to walk over to Thirty-fourth Street Ferry an' find him."

"I snaked him right out er a house where he was hidin'."

"Then Denny Macey was the one who gave Jip away, an' I'll have a settlement with that chump some day!"
Dan cried angrily.

Now for the first time Seth took part in the conversation, by saying curtly to Sam:

"You've got Jip in jail, an' think it's goin' to be a big thing to brag about; but I don't believe you'll make any
great shakes out of it. Come on, Dan, we don't want to hang 'round here any longer."

"You're feelin' mighty fine, Seth Bartlett, jest 'cause you're given the chance to loaf 'round the Fire
Department headquarters an' sweep the floors!" Sam cried angrily. "I s'pose you think you're pretty nigh the
only feller in this town?"

"Come ahead, Dan," and Seth would have passed on but that the would-be detective barred his way.

"I don't want any talk with you, Sam Barney, an' what's more I won't have any."

"Won't, eh? Suppose I slap your face, how'll it be then?"

Instinctively Seth put himself in a posture of defence, and instantly afterward realized that he must not be
accused of making a disturbance on the street lest it work to his harm in the Department.

Then once again he would have passed Master Barney.

The would-be detective was not brave save where he believed he had a decided advantage, and the fact that
Seth seemed eager to avoid an encounter gave him great confidence in his own abilities.

He stepped up menacingly, brandishing his fists directly under Seth's nose, and Dan cried sharply to his
partner:

"Why don't you knock his head off?"

"He don't dare to so much as raise his hands, except he's up 'round Ninety-four's house, where he thinks some
of the firemen will back him!" Sam cried derisively as he redoubled his efforts to provoke the amateur.

Seth's cheeks were flaming red, and he clenched his fists until the knuckles were white, in the effort to restrain
himself.

If he had been alone there is every probability he might have forgotten his determination to avoid such
encounters, for the would-be detective was doing all he could to provoke a quarrel; but Dan Roberts,
understanding full well why his partner remained inactive when the temptation to strike at least one blow was
very great, took it upon himself to put an end to the scene.

Sam was standing directly in front of Seth, brandishing his fists, and indulging in such epithets as "coward"
and "sneak," when Dan sprang forward suddenly, striking the bully a blow under the ear that sent him
headlong into the gutter.