eps near at hand, and ever on
the alert against possible danger, Seth made his way to the door of the
shed as he asked sharply:

"Who's there?"

"It's only me," a familiar voice replied, and he knew that the visitor
was none other than the boy of whom he and his lodger had just been
speaking.

"Dan was tellin' me you'd lost your money. Didn't come up here
reckonin' he or I'd got it, did you?"

"I ain't any sich fool as that; but Jip Collins has been makin' a good
deal of cheap talk this afternoon, an' I thought perhaps you'd like to
know 'bout it."

"He's allers doin' that, an' I reckon it's more wind than anythin'
else."

"I wouldn't wonder if this time he got right down to business, an' you
ought'er keep a pretty sharp lookout, Seth. These are too snug quarters
for you to lose through a feller like Jip."

"Come inside and set down," Master Bartlett said as his lodger joined
him at the door of the shed. "Dan an' me is here alone, an' you won't
mind if it's dark, 'cause you see I promised Mr. Baxter straight out an'
out that there shouldn't ever be any kind of a light inside. That's one
of the things Jip kicked about, you know."

Sam Barney promptly accepted the invitation. Being an old friend of
Seth's, he was familiar with the household arrangements, and despite the
darkness made his way through the shed to the box-like home in one
corner, where, after some difficulty, he found a block of wood that
served as chair.

Seth threw himself upon the bed of shavings, and Dan lounged negligently
near the entrance.

"I should think it would be kind er lonesome in here nights when it's
like this," Sam suggested as he tried in vain to distinguish the form of
either of his companions.

"Well, it ain't, 'cause Dan an' me don't spend a great deal of time
settin' 'round after we once get in. We should have been asleep before
this if he hadn't had considerable to say 'bout my tryin' to be a
fireman. He'd jest got through when you came."

"Well, say, Seth, you don't b'lieve you're ever goin' to get on to the
Department, jest 'cause you run to every fire Ninety-four goes to, do
you?"

"I don't know why I can't be a fireman jest as easy as you can a
detective, an' some of the fellers say you're workin' mighty hard to be
one."

"Well, s'posen I am?" and Sam spoke sharply.

"I ain't kickin' against it; but was only sayin' that it's jest as easy
for me to get what I'm tryin' for, as it is for you."

Sam's opinion on