y soon!"

Then came the thought, for he believed the fire was already beyond
control, that it would be impossible to rescue the boys--that he was
indeed a murderer, for it seemed to him as if an exceedingly long time
had elapsed since he first saw the tiny ray of light.

Now his one desire was that an alarm might be sent in, yet no one could
be seen or heard in either direction.

Each moment of delay increased the peril, and when he had waited in most
painful suspense for ten seconds it was impossible to remain inactive
any longer.

Far down the street a red light could be seen, denoting the location of
a fire-alarm station, and he ran toward it as he had never run before,
so nervous when he would have opened the outer door of the box that for
two or three seconds it was impossible to turn the handle.

When he did so the sound of the warning gong, intended to notify the
policeman on that beat that the box was being opened, caused him to
start back in alarm, for he fancied the officers of justice were already
on his trail.

Jip had many times seen a call rung in, and in the merest fraction of
time he recovered from his fears as he understood the cause of this
sudden noise.

Then he opened the outer door and pulled down the lever once; and from
that instant until the first engine appeared, which was Ninety-four, it
seemed to him as if an hour had passed, although in fact the company of
which Seth considered himself in a certain degree a member, had
responded to the call in less than three minutes.

Jip was standing by the signal-box when a rumble and roar in the
distance told of the coming of Ninety-four, and he watched as if
fascinated the fountain of sparks which went up from the smoke-stack;
listened to the sharp clicking of the horses' shoes on the pavement; to
the din of the gongs, and the cries of startled pedestrians in the
rear--hearing everything, seeing everything, but yet all the while as if
in a dream.

Nearer and nearer came the puffing engine drawn by three plunging
horses as if it had been no more than a toy, and then, his brain still
in a whirl, Jip heard as if from afar off, the question:

"Where's the fire?"

"In Baxter's carpenter shop!"

The engine was some distance beyond him by the time he had answered the
question, and from the opposite direction he heard the rush of a second
on-coming machine; then here and there the rumble of wheels and
hoof-beats of horses driven at their utmost s