CHAPTER XI.
SAM'S RETURN
It was nearly eight o'clock on the evening of the day Seth paid his first visit to headquarters and he was greeted warmly by such of the men as were on the lower floor.
"Where's Mr. Davis?" he asked.
"He had twenty-four hours' leave an' ain't likely to flash up before to-morrow noon," Jerry Walters replied. "How did you get along at headquarters?"
"That I ain't quite so certain of," Seth replied doubtfully.
"Why not? Anything gone wrong?"
"No; but it don't seem as though the men up there had very much to say to me."
"Found you plenty of work, eh?"
"Oh, yes; there was enough of that."
"A little too much, I reckon, if it kept you till this hour."
"I was told that I should knock off at six o'clock, but then I hadn't finished the job I was workin' on, an' so stayed till it was done."
"How did 'Lish Davis swell 'round?"
"I didn't see anythin' of him after we got inside. He told a man there who I was, an' two or three of 'em hunted 'round to find work for me."
"Well, how do you like it so far's you've gone?" Jerry Walters asked with a smile, and the remainder of the company gathered around to hear the reply.
"I'd like anythin' that was givin' me a show of gettin' into the Department. Of course it ain't so pleasant in the house doin' all kinds of work as it is out of doors layin' still when you want to, or talkin' with the fellers."
"Then you don't feel like backin' out yet?"
"No sir-ee! I'll never feel like that. Look here, I've got to be up at seven o'clock to-morrow mornin', an' why couldn't I shine your boots to-night?"
"'Cause then is the time for you to rest, Amateur. Don't bother your head about our boots being shined, for we'll tend to that part of it. I reckon there'll be as much work at headquarters as you can comfortably do, so there's no need to come 'round here except to make a friendly call. Of course we're expectin' to see you pretty nigh every evenin' so's to have a report of how things are goin'; but so far's your blackin' our boots, that's all nonsense, and if 'Lish Davis was here this minute he'd tell you the same."
"But I want to do it, an' Mr. Davis promised me I should, 'cause it'll make it seem as if I was tryin' to square up for what all of you have done for me."
Jerry Walters tried to persuade Seth that he had better not attempt to do so much, particularly at the outset; but it could readily be told from the expression on the boy's face that he was not convinced, and Mr. Walters refrained from making further efforts in that line.
After answering a few more questions and promising to visit the engine-house on the following evening, Seth, feeling even more tired than he looked, set out for home, and Mr. Walters said to his comrades:
"That kid will work himself down to skin an' bones for the sake of tryin' to show he's thankful for the lift we've given him, and as for making his way into the Department, why, there ain't a ghost of a show that he'll fail."
And every member of the company appeared to share Jerry's opinion regarding the matter.
When Seth arrived at Mrs. Hanson's he found Bill Dean and Dan making ready to retire, and the latter cried in a joyful tone:
"I'm mighty glad you've come, Seth. Bill an' me was jest figgerin' that they'd fixed it up to have you sleep there nights."
"There wasn't anythin' said about that, and I reckon they don't want boys 'round," the amateur fireman replied gloomily, and Bill asked in surprise:
"Why, what's the matter, old man? Ain't gettin' discouraged so soon, are you?"
"I reckon it'll be all right after a spell, an' I wouldn't want any of Ninety-four's men to know that I wasn't jest as chipper as a sparrer; but things are different up there from what they are down here. They jest set you to work an' let you keep hummin' without sayin' a word. I don't believe a single one of 'em has spoke to me since Mr. Davis went away."
"What you been doin'?"
"Cleanin' windows; an' I tell you they're so big that one of 'em makes considerable work. I hung on to it till I'd finished all on that floor, even though they told me to go home at six o'clock."
"What are you goin' to do to-morrow?"
"I don't know. Anythin' that comes up, I s'pose."
"Didn't they give you any lessons in the school?"
"I haven't even seen it yet. There might have been a hundred men 'round there practisin' for all I'd know, 'cause I was in the front of the buildin'."
"Why, I thought you'd go right to work learnin' to be a fireman," Dan said in surprise.
"Mr. Davis never allowed anythin' like that. He said after a spell, when I'd showed 'em I could 'tend to business, I might get a show; but you see, it ain't anyways certain that they'll do what Ninety-four's men have been countin' on. I've got to take the chances, you know, and work my way in."
Both Dan and Bill were disappointed by this report. They had fancied certain tasks might be required of Seth; but firmly believed he would be given instructions at once.
In fact, Dan had told his roommate several times during the day that he expected to see Seth an enrolled member of the Department within a few months, adding in support of such belief:
"When that feller tackles anythin' he goes right through with it, an' if he ain't big enough now he's got the nerve in him to grow terribly. It seems like he does everythin' he starts for."
Now that Seth appeared despondent his comrades believed it their duty to cheer him, and during half an hour or more they set about such task in earnest.
It seemed to them as if he was already growing more cheerful when the shrill whistling of a peculiar note was heard several times repeated, apparently on the sidewalk in front of the dwelling.
"That's Teddy Bowser!" Bill Dean exclaimed as he leaped to his feet. "He wanted to come up here to-night, but I told him he mustn't, 'cause if the fellers hung 'round I'd lose my show for a tony lodgin'."
"Go down and see what he wants," Dan suggested. "I don't believe we'd better let him come in, for there are three of us here now, an' Miss Hanson might think she was havin' too many fellers 'round for sixty cents a week."
Bill descended the stairs swiftly but noiselessly, returning in less than five minutes with a look of consternation upon his face.
"Say, Sam Barney's got back!"
"Got back!" Seth cried in astonishment and dismay. "Why, how'd he raise the money?"
"That's what Teddy didn't know. He said Sam flashed up 'bout an hour ago lookin' as chipper as you please, an' with cash in his pocket. He's tumbled to our racket, an' is promenadin' 'round town sayin' he'll catch Jip Collins before to-morrow night."
The three boys gazed at each other in perplexity, and fully a moment elapsed before the almost painful silence was broken.
Then Seth said interrogatively:
"Of course Teddy knew what he was talkin' 'bout?"
"Oh yes, he hasn't made any mistake, 'cause he saw Sam and heard him blow 'bout what a swell time he had in Philadelphy."
"He couldn't have been there very long."
"I don't understand it," and Bill plunged his hands deep in his pocket as he looked gloomily around. "I thought when we shipped him off that we'd settled the detective business, an' now it ain't any dead certain thing he won't run right across Jip Collins, 'cause the poor feller thinks Sam's so far away there's no danger of meetin' him."
"Where's Teddy?" Dan asked.
"Down on the sidewalk."
"What's he waitin' for?"
"I told him he'd better hold on a spell, 'cause we've got to do somethin', fellers, an' perhaps he can help us."
"But if Sam's here with money in his pocket, how shall we stop him from workin' up the case?" Dan asked helplessly.
"First off we must tell Jip," Seth replied promptly. "To-morrow mornin' you an' Bill will have to see what can be done with Sam. It won't do to let him keep on the way he was goin' before we sent him off."
"I reckon you can't stop him if he's set on doin' it, an' he likely will be now he finds you're in the Department, 'cause he said he was goin' to be an out-an'-out detective long before you ever dreamed of gettin' a fireman's job."
"If he only knew how little of a fireman I am he wouldn't feel very bad 'bout it," Seth said with a sigh, and then added more cheerily, "Come on, fellers, we must find Jip, an' not stay out too late either, else Miss Hanson will raise a row."
The three went down the stairs softly, crept out on the sidewalk as if their own lives might be in jeopardy if the slightest noise was made, and there met Teddy Bowser.
"Oh yes, I saw him," Teddy said in reply to Seth's question. "He's been swingin' himself 'round Grand Street big as life for more'n an hour; says he had a great time in Philadelphy, an' ain't certain but he'll go over there to live after he gets Jip in jail. Sam must have struck some mighty soft snap, 'cause when he left this town he had only sixteen cents to his name."
"Do you s'pose he could find any one chump enough to lend him money?" Dan asked musingly, and Seth said almost sharply:
"It won't pay for us to stand here tryin' to figger how he's fixed things, 'cause we must be back mighty soon, and it may take quite a spell to find Jip."
"I reckon it will," Teddy added emphatically. "I hunted all 'round the ferry for him."
"Why, how did you know where he was?"
"The fellers told me. I didn't think it was a secret."
"It ought to have been," and Seth looked more distressed than before. "If all hands know, it won't take Sam Barney a great while to find out."
"He was talkin' 'bout it when I left; said there was no need of goin' to the ferry till mornin', 'cause he could put his hands on him when he wanted to. Some of Jip's chums must have gone back on him, an' I wouldn't wonder if I knew who. You see, Denny Macey was tellin' 'round that if Jip didn't ante up the dime he borrowed two weeks ago, he'd make trouble for him."
"Don't let's stand here any longer," and Seth led the way at a rapid pace toward the ferry.
Beyond speculating as to how the would-be detective had been enabled to return from Philadelphia, those who were seeking to do Jip Collins an additional favor indulged in little conversation during the hurried journey across the city.
As they neared the ferry each kept a sharp watch in the hope of meeting the boy whom he sought, but when they stood at the very entrance of the slip no sign of Jip had been seen, and then the difficulty of the search began to be apparent.
Master Collins was a stranger in this section of the city, and they might question a dozen boys without finding one who had so much as heard of him, therefore the quest was likely to be a long if not a vain one.
"It'll soon be too late to do anything if we don't hustle," Seth said when he realized all the possibilities against success. "Let each feller start out alone, and there'll be jest so many more chances of runnin' across him. We'll meet here by the ferry slip in half an hour."
This plan was acted upon without delay, and each member of the searching party did his best to bring the labor to a speedy and final conclusion; but when at the expiration of the time set the four met once more, nothing had been discovered.
"He's turned in," Bill Dean said in a tone of conviction.
"If it's with that chum of yourn it ought'er be easy to find him."
"He wasn't a chum of mine, an' I don't so much as know his name. It's a feller I've run across two or three times down-town, that's all."
"Then I can't see but what we must call it a bad job, for there's no kind of use in foolin' 'round here any longer."
"But if we don't find him now all Sam Barney's got to do is to walk over here in the mornin'," Dan said mournfully, and Bill Dean cried emphatically:
"I'll get ahead of that bloomin' detective if I have to set up all night! You can count on my bein' right here at daylight, an' that's the best anybody can do. You ought to get to bed, Seth, 'cause you've got to turn out pretty early in the mornin'."
That it was useless to remain in that vicinity any longer with the hope of meeting Jip by chance, all understood, and mournfully they turned their faces homeward, Teddy Bowser suggesting that he might be able to do the repentant firebug a friendly turn by delaying Sam a certain length of time next morning.
"I'll ask him to tell me about his detective work, an' you can bet he won't lose such a chance, 'cause there's nothin' in this world he likes to talk about as well as himself."
"All right, you do that, Teddy, an' I'll snoop over here," Bill added. "Of course Seth can't take a hand in this work, on account of havin' to go to headquarters, but Dan will kind-er lay 'round anywhere, either to head Sam off, or find Jip."
Then Teddy Bowser took his departure for the night, and Mrs. Hanson's three lodgers returned to their room thoroughly distressed in mind.
The greater portion of the night might have been spent by them in discussing this new phase of affairs but for Seth, who said when his comrades began to hold forth on the subject:
"You fellers can't do any good talkin'. I've got to get some sleep if I count on bein' up early enough in the mornin' to do the work over to the engine-house an' get to my job at seven o'clock, so s'pose you quiet down and give me a chance?"
This was no more than a reasonable request, and soon Mrs. Hanson's lodgers were enjoying their needed repose, despite the troubles which had come upon them.
Seth, whose last thought had been that he must waken early, opened his eyes just as the day was dawning, and aroused his comrades.
"You fellers must turn out if you count on helpin' Jip this mornin', an' I'm goin' to get right off. Seems to me it would be a good idea if Bill was at the ferry right soon."
"I'll start now," Master Dean replied, and, since their plans had been fully arranged the night previous, there was nothing to prevent Seth from going at once to Ninety-four's house.
The watchman on duty admitted him with a reproof for trying to crowd too much work into one day; but made no further objection when the amateur fireman declared that he should "feel better if he did the shinin' the same's ever."
Not a man was awake save the one on duty, when, his work finished, Seth hurried toward headquarters.
When he arrived it lacked twenty minutes of the time set for him to begin work, and the first person he met inside the building was a gray-haired man wearing such a uniform as did Jerry Walters, the driver of Ninety-four, and all Seth's particular friends.
"What are you doing here?" the official asked in a not very friendly tone.
"I began to work 'round this place yesterday noon," Seth replied in an apologetic manner.
"Oh, you did, eh? You must be the kid 'Lish Davis made so much talk about."
"I am the boy he got the job for, sir."
"Well, what are you doing here so early? Seven o'clock is the hour."
"Yes, sir; but I don't s'pose it can make much difference if I'm here a little before time, 'cause then I'll get more done, don't you see?"
"And you were figuring on that same thing when you stayed here until eight o'clock last night, eh?"
"No, sir; I stayed 'cause I wasn't through washin' all the windows on the second floor, an' didn't want to leave the job half done."
"Well, in the future you'd better go home when the clock strikes six, the same as others do. What task have they set for you this morning?"
"Nothing as yet, sir."
"That's because you did your work too well yesterday. I suppose they allowed you had enough to last through the balance of this day."
"It would be a pretty poor kind of a boy who couldn't do more'n wash that many windows in a day an' a half," Seth replied laughingly, fancying that this man's gruff manner was no indication of bad temper, but rather the reverse.
"They tell me you're counting on being a fireman one of these days?"
"Yes, sir," Seth replied promptly and decisively.
"You seem to be pretty certain of it."
"So I am, sir, 'cause I'll get there after a time if I work hard."
"You will for a fact, my son, if you believe it as firmly as you seem to. How much have you seen of the building so far?"
"I've only been in the room where I was workin' yesterday."
"Come up into the gymnasium with me. I'm running things in that quarter, an' it might be we can work you in with better profit there, than at window-washing."
It was as if Seth's heart gave a great bound just then, for in the gymnasium was begun the first of the fireman's lessons, and if he should be so fortunate as to be set at work there it seemed that advancement must necessarily be rapid.
Even though he had had less reason of wishing to be occupied in this portion of the building, he could not but have been delighted when he entered the well-appointed place, and he gazed around in what was very like an ecstasy of joy until suddenly aroused by the voice of this new acquaintance.
"Do you think you could keep things in proper shape here? There's plenty of work to be done, and at present we are getting none of the best."
"I'd like to have a chance to try, sir."
"Very well; I'll see to the red tape of the business down-stairs and in the meanwhile do you set about doing whatever you think is necessary. If 'Lish Davis wasn't mistaken, I'll see to it you get all the instruction in this portion of the building that you can stagger under, and it may be we'll put a little more muscle into you 'twixt now and the next few months."
Then, without having specified what it was he wished Seth to busy himself with, the gray-haired man turned to leave the gymnasium, when he suddenly stopped and asked sharply:
"Have you been to breakfast?"
"No, sir; I was told that I'd get my grub here."
"Then why didn't you 'tend to it when you first came in?"
"'Cause I met you, sir."
"I suppose you hadn't thought you might be needing something to eat?"
"It would have been no great matter, sir. I've got along until noon a good many days without anythin', an' can do it again."
"There's no need of that here, my son. Remember to get your meals on time, for regularity of habits, – although that will become a luxury if you are ever made a fireman, – regularity of habits is quite as necessary for the strength and building up of your body as any exercise you can take here. So far as possible eat at the same hour each day; go to bed early, get up early, and at all times see to it that your body is properly cared for. When did you have a bath last?"
"It's been quite a spell since I went in swimmin', sir."
"Well, you can begin the day with that. Use plenty of cold water, and I reckon the towels are coarse enough. Then get your breakfast, come up here, and go to work."
"At anything special, sir?"
"Whatever you see that's needed to be done."
Then this employer, who had given him such good advice, walked quietly away, and Seth was left to find the bathroom as best he might.
During this day Master Bartlett worked as industriously as ever; but with better heart than while employed about the first task set him at headquarters, for he had reason to believe there was at least one in the building who would lend him a helping hand, and the future seemed much brighter than it had twenty-four hours previous.
This new friend, who was spoken of as "Josh" by those who seemed to be best acquainted with him, and by others as "Mr. Fernald," apparently gave no heed to the boy, and Seth did whatever seemed to him most necessary, although there were many times when he was tempted to stop in order to watch the men at their exercises, until half-past five in the afternoon, when the man whom he was beginning to look upon as a friend said sharply:
"Get your supper, now, Seth Bartlett, and to-morrow morning see to it that you have breakfast before coming up here."
Seth wanted to say good-night to Mr. Fernald; but doubtful as to how such familiarity might be received, he departed in silence, turning around as soon as he was in the corridor where none could see him, to wave his hand in adieu.
Supper had been eaten, and he was on the sidewalk outside of headquarters just as the whistles were blowing for the hour of six.
"I'll have a chance to stop a good while in Ninety-four's house to-night, an' there may another alarm come so's I can go out with her again," he said to himself, and at that instant Teddy Bowser appeared from around the corner of the building and cried excitedly:
"Dan Roberts an' Bill Dean sent me up here to tell you that Sam Barney's had Jip Collins 'rested this afternoon 'bout three o'clock."