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Now, I must go and see if there are any stray sparks around anywhere, and I want to investigate this fire. I have an idea it was set by tramps. That barge came down the lake early this evening, and the men in charge of it told me they threw a tramp overboard who was stealing a ride on it." "Threw him overboard?" repeated Mr. Appelby. "Yes.
What a demonstration awaited the victors when they trundled their engine back to the grove! It seemed that every man from Lakeville wanted to shake hands with the boys. "You've done the town more good than if you gave it a marble monument!" exclaimed Mayor Appelby, enthusiastically, as he greeted Herbert. "You've woke our sleepy village up, and I look for better times now.
Jamesville folks can't laugh at us any longer for not having an engine. I'm proud to live in Lakeville, and I didn't use to be. Guess I'll run for mayor again." "I thought you said you wasn't going to," said Mr. Sagger quickly, as he knew he was pretty sure of the nomination, if the genial Mr. Appelby, whom everyone liked, did not enter the contest. "Well, I've changed my mind.
"I'd like to say a few words," spoke up Herbert, rising in his seat. "Go on!" invited Mr. Appelby encouragingly. "This offer of Mr. Bergman's is a complete surprise to me," said the boy. "I never sought the position of head of the new department." "We know that," spoke a friendly voice.
Tom and Charlie went through the hall, dragging the two lines with them, and the hose was soon reeled back on the engine. "Guess we've done our share," declared Mr. Sagger, as he called to his men of the bucket brigade. "The fire's out!" "Well, I can't say that we did it all," Confessed Mr. Appelby. "The boys did the most of it." "We could have done it without them," asserted the butcher.
"They were only in the way. We couldn't use the cistern." "I guess it's just as well they got there first," went on the mayor of Lakeville. "This looked like a bad blaze, and if it had got beyond control the whole house would have gone. It's as dry as tinder, and a regular death-trap." "Did you hear what started it, Mr. Appelby?" asked Cole, as he trimmed the lamps on the engine.
I most certainly will not consent to thrusting the boys aside, now that we are about to have a regular department." "Hurrah!" came from the irrepressible Cole. "My force pump " But his companions made him keep silent. "I may say," went on Mr. Bergman, with a look at the boys, in their natty uniforms, "that my offer depends on one thing." "What is that?" asked Mr. Appelby quickly.
Ned is worried for fear they'll break up the boys' department." "That would be a shame." "I think so, too. But, hush! Mayor Appelby is going to speak." The mayor, who had been elected chairman of the meeting, told the object of the gathering. He said they had assembled to hear an offer that was to be made by their "distinguished fellow citizen, the Honorable Perrett Bergman."
"No, we want men to run the department," objected the butcher. "Those boys are as good as men," asserted Mr. Appelby, as he watched the lads, under Bert's direction, take up their hose and get the engine in shape for returning to quarters. "I guess old Sagger is afraid his taxes will go up. But we do need a regular department," he added to himself.
In case of a fire, a messenger was to be dispatched on horseback, to summon the department. It was also planned to have the old hand engine in the parade, some of the smaller boys begging for the privilege of hauling this, a request which was quickly granted by Bert and his chums. "Going to parade, Moses?" asked Mr. Appelby of the butcher, the evening before the day of the picnic. "Parade?