James L. Ford

“ Moreover, he noticed that other lads of his age who were employed in mercantile houses seemed to live more active lives, to make fairly good wages, and to have altogether a better time than he did. He had pictured the life in the fire department as one of brilliant excitement, highly spiced with adventure and danger; and he had fancied himself as a sort of hero in a blue uniform and with a big fireman’s hat on his head, dashing through the streets on a fire engine or rescuing people from burning houses. ”

“ Before leaving the grounds, Bruce walked to the corner of the house and refreshed his memory with another long look at the old vine-clad porch which had attracted his attention on the occasion of his first visit and had suggested to his mind the long search upon which he was still engaged. There it was just as when he had last seen it, just as it was when he saw it in those long gone by childish days.
He returned in a rather disconsolate mood to the quarters and told Weyman the result of his visit.
“Never mind,” said the latter, “you mustn’t expect to learn every thing all in a hurry. ”

“ A stranger, seeing the awful conflagration that had broken out so suddenly on that night of storm and snow, would have said, without hesitation, that the city was doomed to a repetition of that hurricane of smoke and flames that swept through Chicago years ago, and left of that fair city nothing but a waste of smoking ashes. The most destructive of all elements had begun its deadly work, and who could say what limit there would be to the destruction of life and property which would result? ”

“ A tall column of smoke rising from the heart of the great city caught their eye.
“What makes that smoke?” said Harry, to his tutor who was standing beside him.
“I don’t know,” replied Mr. Reed, doubtfully, “But I think it must be a fire. Yes, the smoke is growing denser every moment and now we can see bits of flame in it too.”
“I wonder if Bruce Decker is there, helping to put it out,” exclaimed Harry, impulsively. “I tell you it must be grand to be running to the fires all the time. I wonder how Bruce is getting along, anyway. ”

“ But remarkable things sometimes do happen in real life, and now, just as both engines were slowing down, while their captains looked anxiously about them as if in search of something, Bruce saw a grin of delight chase the clouds from Captain Murphy’s face, and then a sharp word of command caused the driver to come to a sudden stop close to the curb, and there stood Mr. Peter Dewsnap leaning carelessly on an ash barrel and waving his hand to Captain Murphy. ”

“ Bruce wondered how it was that his guide should happen to know so much about the fashionable part of the city, even more in fact than he seemed to know about the poorer quarters. It may have been that Chief Trask saw what was uppermost in the boy’s mind, for he said, as if in answer to a question, “I have to know about every part of the city, and it is particularly valuable for me to keep the run of what we call the brown stone district. The men who live here own property all over the city—factories, apartment houses, tenement houses and private dwellings—besides what they live in themselves. ”

“ When he returned from the restaurant where he had enjoyed a hearty meal and a long, confidential talk with the chief, he stopped by the stalls in which the horses were standing, stroked the nose of the big gray, and said, without an instant’s hesitation: “Well, Pete, old fellow, I’ve heard of you many a time,” and the horse laid his muzzle on the boy’s shoulder and whinnied softly, as if he were returning the friendly greeting. The men noticed this and exchanged significant glances. ”

“ From his father’s lips the boy had heard stories of the swift runs to fires, of thrilling midnight rescues, of brave firemen plunging into solid sheets of smoke and flame, and so strong a hold had these stories taken on his mind that his desire to become a fireman himself had slowly grown within him, until it became the one fixed and cherished ambition of his life. ”

“ Charley Weyman, who was a close observer and took a deep interest in the son of his old friend, was right in his surmise that Bruce was in love, although the boy himself would have been very much surprised if he had been told of it. Never in all his life had he met any girl as pretty, as well-bred and as charming as Laura Van Kuren. ”

“ The policemen on guard saluted, and a wagon, drawn by a panting and sweating horse, dashed through the fire-lines and drew up suddenly at the curbstone. The tall, grizzled, and soldierly looking man who alighted was evidently a person of importance, for in an instant the deputy chief in command of operations appeared before him and saluted him in military style.
The newcomer was tall and well built. He wore a thick fireman’s overcoat and a helmet. ”

“ But there are little things which change the current of human life, and one of these little things happened just as Bruce was on the point of asking the chief to let him take a position in some store or office and give up the fire department altogether. One afternoon, having been given a leave of absence from the quarters, he strolled down to Captain Murphy’s engine house, in order to have a chat with the captain, who had taken quite a liking to the son of his old friend and was always delighted to talk to him about the work in the department and to explain things that he did not know. ”

“ It seems to me that every boy in New York is just as crazy to run to fires as I was when I lived in the country. Why, do you know sir, that every time we start out of quarters there’s such a swarm of young ones in the street that it’s a wonder we don’t run over two or three of them. And besides, boys seem to me to be tougher and more supple than men. There are lots of things I can do in an athletic way that Tom Brophy can’t and he’s twenty-five years old. ”

“ In less than two minutes the flames were under control, and the frightened people, who had been screaming and crying in the street, realized that what they had mistaken for an awful conflagration was in reality nothing but a comparatively harmless combustion in the factory’s upper floor, that no lives had been jeopardized, and that all danger of the flames spreading had vanished in the face of the rapid and efficient work of Chief Trask’s men. ”

“ Well, to my mind, though I would not have admitted it twenty years ago, I think that the fact that politics has been eliminated from the department is one of the chief things that we have to be thankful for, and I believe that it is almost the first time in the history of the world that a fire department has been run without mixing it with political affairs. ”

“ You don’t get variety enough in your life, and the next time I see the chief, I’m going to speak to him about it. You’ll never fit yourself to take a good position in the department unless you go out with the men. You can learn more by helping to put out one fire than you can by sitting around an engine house for a year. You’d better not think of looking for another job though, until you give this business a fair trial. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t make as good a fireman as your father was, for you’re quick and you’ve got a cool head on you just like that bay horse over there. ”

“ For a moment Bruce stood undecided as to what course he should pursue. The hose was still traveling across the floor, at a rapid rate, and although he shouted to his companions he could hear nothing in reply. Should he follow them as had been ordered or should he turn 156back with the boy’s body in his arms? All at once he remembered that Mr. Trask had once told him that a fireman’s first duty was to save human life—and saying to himself “I’ll be on the safe side anyhow,” he lifted the inanimate form in his arms and slowly made his way back to the window by which he had entered. ”

“ Never in his whole life had the warm-hearted and benevolent old gentleman been so stirred with shame and indignation as he had that day by the sudden discovery that his nephew, who 320was of his own flesh and blood, and bore his name, was making his livelihood by loaning money to poor and unfortunate people at usurious rates of interest. That a man of proper breeding and right feelings should take advantage of the necessities of the unfortunate, stirred Mr. Dexter’s soul to its inmost depths. ”

“ Most of the people in the casualty ward were working men who had met with accidents, and he noticed to his surprise that some of them seemed in no hurry to get well, and always limped in the most grievous fashion when any of the doctors were about.
It was Skinny the Swiper who explained this phenomenon to him by remarking that these invalids lived better in the hospital than they did at home and at much less expense, and were therefore perfectly willing to stay there all winter and board at the expense of the city without doing any hard work. ”

“ There was such a curtain swinging idly in the window of a dimly lighted room as the clocks in the tall church towers tolled the solemn hour of midnight. The wind was high now, and the snow, which had been falling for nearly six hours, was heaped upon the roofs of the tall houses, and lay in huge drifts about the streets, while the flakes which filled the keen winter air were blown so sharply in the faces of pedestrians that men found walking possible only by keeping to the middle of the street, and bending their heads down to the sharp blasts. ”

“ A slight blaze had started in some cotton waste in a five-story brick building used for manufacturing purposes, and by the time the firemen arrived the smoke was pouring out of the upper windows in dense clouds, while the workmen and women were escaping, bareheaded, to the street, many of them coming through the big door on the ground floor, while others, in their anxiety to save themselves, came crashing through the lower windows and jumped to the sidewalk, heedless of the flying splinters of glass. ”

“ Bruce was just a little bit annoyed to find himself so easily beaten by a lad whose appearance indicated anything but strength and agility, but when he saw how the little bit of excitement and the triumph of winning the race had restored his friends temper to its usual good-natured pitch and completely dispelled a feeling which might have culminated in a quarrel, he was rather glad on the whole that he himself had lost. ”

“ We’re not one of us rich, but we’re not so poor that we can’t spare a dollar now and then for a son of one of the squarest and best men that the department ever had.”
Brophy’s words were received with a degree of enthusiasm and approval that showed plainly that he and his comrades were of one mind as to the course they should pursue in welcoming and looking after the son of their old friend, and until the return of the boy and Chief Trask, they sat talking over the days when Frank Decker was one of the quickest, bravest and most popular men in all the department. ”

“ It had made him dissatisfied to see children of his own age living in the style that he had never dreamt of before, and he could not help asking himself why it was that he, Bruce Decker, should be obliged to look after horses, and run errands for the chief of a fire battalion while Harry, who was neither better nor cleverer than he was, had a pony of his own to ride, wore good clothes every day, and in short, lived upon the very fat of the land ”

“ And while the father had been at work in the fire department, the child whom he had left in the little village in the northern part of the State, had grown in health, strength and mind, and was now in his sixteenth year, an active, vigorous, straightforward youth, who inherited all his father’s daring and quickness, together with a willingness to learn and a decided taste for books, which had come to him direct from his mother. ”

“ Weyman carry her down the ladder in his arms?” inquired Bruce excitedly.
“He carried her down about half-way and then she suddenly braced up, got out of his grasp, and came down the rest of the way herself. It was one of the narrowest escapes I have ever seen. And the lesson that it teaches a fireman is to be always ready for any emergency, and always on time to the half second. Seconds are like weeks in fighting fire.” ”

“ Why, before the birth of Christ, the Emperor Pompey once refused to allow a new fire company to be formed in Rome because he knew that it was merely an excuse to get together a new crowd of his political opponents, and in the old days when I used to run with a company, politics and the fire department were very much mixed up. I could give you the names of dozens of men who have reached the highest offices in the city and have climbed all the way up by means of their connection with the fire department. ”

“ This was the chance she had been waiting for, and with an air of deep mystery she said.
“Mr. Dexter there was a very curious thing that happened some time ago and if I tell you I want you to promise me not to say anything about it to anybody not even to papa, and particularly not to Harry.” In her eagerness she forgot the agreement she had made with Bruce, an agreement which had more than once prevented him from speaking of the subject to friends and others who might have aided him in his search. ”

“ There’s a gong here, too, you see, as well as down stairs, and when the alarm rings, the fireman jumps out of bed and, you might say, right into his turnout, pulls the trousers up and runs for the sliding pole, and there’s a race every time to see who will get down first. The driver and engineer always sleep next to the poles so that they can get down ahead of the others. Down stairs there are two men on duty all the time at night. When the alarm sounds and the horses run to their places, these men must be at their heads to snap their collars and hitch the reins to their bits. ”

“ I got up early hoping to find something in the newspapers that might rid my mind of worry; but the servant tells me that the snow has fallen so as to make the streets almost impassable, and the boy who supplies us has not yet appeared. If he does not come very soon I shall send my own man to the nearest news-stand for I assure you that I have been very much worried.”
“My dear old friend,” said Mr. Van Kuren gently as he placed his hand affectionately on the old gentleman’s shoulder, “you really must not allow such trivial things to worry you and keep you awake. ”