hat every man and woman present may see
fit to support you."

Captain Pott had grown more and more restless as time went on, and now
as the city minister began to move from the platform the Captain began
to move toward the open window.

"I am ready to entertain any motion which you care to make," announced
the chairman.

Mr. Beaver rose. With the first hiss from his lips, the Captain dropped
his hand over the sill and tapped the outside of the casing. Shouts went
up from the boys who stood beneath the window. These were answered by
cries of fire from various parts of town. The clang of the gong at the
fire-house broke through the stillness of the crowded room. Distant
alarms were rung with steady regularity. The meeting adjourned in a
body.

The seaman had kept his promise, and "Providence had cut the pack for
the new deal."

CHAPTER IX

In an incredibly short time the church was emptied. Each one in the
crowd was shouting wild conjectures as to whose place was on fire as
they ran in the direction of the blaze. It was a strange sight that met
the gaze of the excited people as they came in full view of Dan Trelaw's
place. He was busily engaged pouring oil on unburned sections of his
hen-coops! Dan's hen-houses were located at the rear of his property,
and had been built from a collection of dry-goods boxes. They had been
the pride of his life, and as the crowd watched him pour on more oil,
some one declared that Dan must have gone out of his senses. Nor would
he permit the fire company to play their chemical hose.

"It's come to a purty pass," Dan stated to the onlookers, "when a man
can't burn down his own coops to get rid of the mites without the whole
blame town turning out to interfere. If the very last one of you don't
clear out, I'll use my office as constable of this town to run the lot
of you in!"

Hank Simpson was the chief of the volunteer corps, and Dan was chief of
the Little River police system. The two chiefs argued as to the rights
of the respective offices. Hank declared it was his official duty to put
the fire out. Dan as emphatically declared it was his official duty to
disperse the crowd. Finally, Hank admitted that Dan had a right to burn
his own property so long as the property of others was not endangered.
Some say that the chief of police answered the chief of the fire corps
with a slow and deliberate wink.

"Now, all of you clear out and leave me to my fire," demanded Dan, as h