back quickly.

"I don't want anythin' for the shine; I'd like mighty well to give you
one every day."

"Do you go around working for thanks?" the driver asked with no little
surprise.

"Of course I take my pay from other folks; but I wouldn't let any
fireman put up for a shine."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I'm jest the same as one myself--that is, I'm goin' into the
Department when I'm old enough."

"Stuck on the business, eh?"

[Illustration: 'LISH DAVIS AND SETH _Page_ 8.]

"That's jest the size of it!" Seth cried enthusiastically. "I tend out
on most all the fires in Ninety-four's district, an' sometimes I get
a chance to sneak inside the lines."

"You do, eh? Well, I'll have an eye out after this, and if I get my
hands on you there won't be any more such sneaking."

"Now, what's the matter with my doin' a little thing like that? It don't
hurt anybody, an' I pick up a good many points."

"Some day a falling wall will knock you down, or you'll find yourself
under the wheels of an engine, and then your 'points' won't be of any
particular advantage."

"I can take care of myself as well as you, an' if I don't knock 'round
when there's a fire, how am I ever goin' to learn the business?"

"You don't want to learn what's a dog's life at the best. Steer clear of
it, lad, and put your mind on anything else, for a man don't last long
at this kind of work; even if he doesn't get killed offhand, it's only a
question of time--and in many cases a precious short time--before a
fireman is laid on the shelf, worn out. Now, clear away from here if you
won't take pay for the shine, and remember that I'll have my eye out
after this to see you don't get inside the lines."

Seth obeyed promptly with never a protest, and 'Lish said to the
watchman at the desk:

"That's a decent kind of a lad, and if he hangs around here any more
there's no reason why we shouldn't throw a job in his way now and then."

"How does that fit in with the lesson you read to him?"

"I didn't try to make it fit. If I can scare him out of the notion he's
got in his head, it'll show he ain't suited for this kind of a life; but
if he sticks at it, I'll believe it's worth while to give him a lift now
and then."

If Seth could have heard this brief conversation he would, most likely,
have indulged in the latest jig-step he had learned, and perhaps
neglected his work as bootblack until hunger forced him to take up the
brushes again; but he was ignorant o