through. Anyhow, it don't seem as though it would do much harm for you
to talk with him."

"Of course it won't; but if it wasn't that Jip's likely to be sent to
jail for a good many years I wouldn't bother him, 'cause it don't seem
the square shake for me to keep runnin' there whenever things turn
wrong."

"It would be pretty tough to let Jip be sent up for four or five years
jest 'cause you didn't want to bother Ninety-four's crew."

"I know that, Bill, an' I'm goin' to talk to Mr. Davis now. I was only
sayin' I wouldn't do it if things wasn't the way they are. I'll go
ahead, an' you fellers meet me up to the room after I get through,
'cause it won't do for all hands to loaf 'round in front of the
engine-house."

To this proposition those who were ready to sacrifice their own pleasure
and interests in order to aid the penitent firebug made no demur, and
Seth set out at full speed, leaving the others to follow at a more
leisurely pace.

"Hello, Amateur! It seems to me you've knocked off work kind-er late
to-night?" 'Lish Davis cried as the boy entered the engine-house.

"Mr. Fernald, the man who runs the gymnasium, told me I was to go away
every night at six o'clock----"

"So Josh has taken you in hand as he promised, eh?"

"He's given me a chance up in the gymnasium, where I can't help seein' a
good deal of the drillin' even when I'm workin', an' it seems as though
it was a mighty soft snap."

"Josh ain't a man who'll make it very soft for any boy. You've got to
toe the mark pretty straight with him, Amateur; but if it so be you
strike him just right things will move along in great shape. Why didn't
you leave headquarters as he told you?"

"I did, sir; but Teddy Bowser was waitin' outside to tell me that Sam
Barney has had Jip Collins 'rested for settin' fire to the
lumber-yard."

"So, so! He has, eh? I thought you shipped that bloomin' detective over
to Philadelphia?"

"That's what we did, Mr. Davis; but he managed to get back, an' tumbled
to the trick we played on him, so the very first thing he does is to get
Jip pulled."

"Well, whether it be boys or men who go wrong, sooner or later they've
got to pay the penalty in some fashion, and perhaps it's just as well
this Collins chap should square matters now as at any other time."

"But it seems terrible, Mr. Davis, to have him sent to jail for nobody
knows how many years."

"It'll be a good many if he's convicted on the charge of arson; that I
can