ow, an' you can bet I'll work
mighty hard, Dan Roberts."

"If you don't you're a bloomin' idjut! Why, I wouldn't ever knowed you
if I'd been goin' fast! I was kind-er loafin' along wonderin' when you'd
be home, an' thinkin' of Jip, so had time to look 'round. First off I
couldn't make up my mind to holler, you looked so bloomin' swell. Now, I
don't see why I shouldn't go in for somethin' same's you did, an' flash
up in sich style; but no, I'll stick to sellin' papers, that'll be the
way with me, an' think I'm playin' in great luck if I get to own a stand
on some corner."

"You talk as if I was already in the Department, instead of havin' to
work my way up to it."

"I only wish I was as near there. By the time you're captain of a
company I'll jest about get so I can pay my own way, with never two
cents ahead."

"Now, don't begin to jump on yourself 'cause it seems as if I was
gettin' along pretty fast; but wait an' see how I pan out, an' as for
doin' nothin' but sellin' papers, why, that's 'cordin' to the way you
want it. There ain't any need of stickin' to sich business unless you
hanker for it."

"Yes there is, except I'm willin' to starve," Dan replied mournfully,
and to raise him from the depths of despondency into which he had been
plunged by a sight of the uniform, Seth began to ask him questions
concerning Jip.

"We left him down at the ferry. Bill Dean struck a feller there who
promised to give Jip a lift now an' then. I don't reckon he'll have any
trouble, 'cause them as are sellin' papers down that way don't seem to
have much sand to 'em. He's goin' to sleep with Bill's friend, an' take
it all in all I think he's gettin' along mighty well, considerin' it
ain't a week since he burned us out. Say, goin' into the house now, or
do you count on swellin' 'round a spell first?"

"We'll go home, Dan, an' in the mornin', after I've shined for
Ninety-four's men, I'll meet you down-town."

"What? You goin' to do any more shinin'?"

"I am for them in that house, an' I'll keep it up till I get to be
reg'larly in the Department. They've done so much for me, Dan, that if I
should spend half my time as long as I live blackin' their boots, I
wouldn't square things."

"If I counted on bein' a fireman I'd be one; I wouldn't black boots for
anybody."

"Neither will I when I'm really in the Department; but I'm a long ways
from there yet a while. Come home, an' to-night I'll stand a spread so's
to celebrate wearin' t