, all of which appeared
wonderfully amusing, not only to 'Lish Davis, but to all the men on the
floor.

"And are you allowing to adopt this 'ere kid who is setting himself up
as a firebug?" the driver asked when Seth had concluded the story.

"I'd like to give him one more show, for I don't believe he'll go wrong
again, an' if we can get Sam Barney so far away that he can't come back,
it may be done."

"But what about us? We're bound to give up all such information as we
may happen to run across, and it's a serious matter to keep a close
tongue on anything of that kind."

"Have you _got_ to get Jip arrested?" Seth asked in alarm.

"It's our duty, and I ain't so certain that he's reformed."

"But you never can know till he's been given a chance, an' it would be
mighty tough if he had to have it put down against him when he grows up,
that he's been in jail."

"I grant you all that, Amateur, yet the law says man or boy must pay the
penalty for arson, and it wouldn't be fair to make an exception in his
case."

"What do you mean by arson?"

"That's the name given to the crime of setting fires, and when the trick
is played in the night, in a building where people are living, it costs
the criminal a good many years of his life."

'Lish Davis was speaking very seriously now, and Seth literally trembled
with apprehension for Jip.

"Ain't there anything I can do to help the poor feller out of the
scrape?" he asked in a tone which told that the tears were very near his
eyelids.

"That's what I can't say right on the spur of the minute; but I'll think
the matter over, and it may be we'll see a way out if you're dead sure
he won't try any more such games."

"I don't believe he will, 'cause he's feelin' mighty bad, an' promises
to be straight after this."

"I've thought all along that he ought'er be sent up for startin' the
fire," Dan said with an air of exceeding wisdom; "but Seth has been
makin' such a row about givin' him another chance that I had to hold my
tongue."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the amateur was nearer in the right than you
are, Daniel, though the officers of the law may look at the matter in a
different light. However, the young reprobate hasn't been caught yet,
even if that keen-eyed detective of yours is on his track, and we'll
drop the subject for a spell. What I wanted to see the amateur about was
lodgings."

Dan's eyes sparkled, for he felt certain they were to be given quarters
in the