hemselves, and then, with a
recollection of their discipline, touched their fatigue caps, and asked
what was to be the next move.

We looked at our unpromising machines and found that they were of
English make, and capable of throwing a stream about as large as garden
engines. They were covered with dust and dirt, and had not been worked
for a twelvemonth; but nothing discouraged, we washed some of the
thickest of the cobwebs away, examined the screws, filled the dry and
cracked boxes with water, adjusted the hose, and then applied the
brakes. A low, wheezing sound was heard, which resembled the breathing
of a person troubled with asthma, but no water was ejected.

The soldiers laughed, and ridiculed the machines, and the crowd outside
of the square getting wind of our failure, shouted in derision at the
"governor's pets," as they were called.

"I say, old fellows," cried a voice, "I've got a syringe in my trunk at
home that you can use. It will be of more service than those machines."

"Grease 'em," shouted another.

"Play away, No. 2," yelled a loafer.

"Hold on, No. 1," shouted a fourth; and as No. 1 had been compelled to
hold on for the want of water, which leaked from the boxes almost as
fast as put in, the joke told hugely.

"You can do nothing with them," said Colonel Hensen, joining us, and
noticing the condition of the machines. "I think that you had better
send them back to the houses, and depend upon the buckets. The fire has
not gained headway for fifteen minutes."

"We are not easily discouraged, sir," replied Fred, and together we
proceeded to examine the boxes of the engines attentively.

We found a screw, which regulated the flow of water, nearly off, and the
plug in the bottom of the box out. The latter explained the leakage at
once, and by the time we had regulated matters the water carts arrived,
and once more we filled the boxes and started the brakes. After wheezing
and sputtering a moment, a slight stream appeared at the nozzle of the
hose. It was greeted with yells of laughter, not only from those who
were passing water in buckets, but even the soldiers joined in the
cries. The crowd took up the yells, and in a few minutes it seemed as
though Bedlam had broken loose.

Not discouraged by the ridicule heaped upon us and the engines, we kept
the boxes full and the soldiers at work on the brakes. The result was as
we had anticipated. The stream grew larger and larger as the wood and
leathe