ation from which the alarm had been sent the
throng on the sidewalks, added to from nearly every house, had so
increased that it was only by taking to the street regardless of the
danger to be apprehended from hose-carts, hook-and-ladder trucks,
patrol-wagons, or water-towers, that the boys could make any
satisfactory headway, and because of their being thus hampered in their
movements Ninety-four's men had already begun their work when Seth and
Dan arrived at a point outside the fire lines where they could see the
machine.

Here a single policeman kept the crowd in check, and Seth whispered
excitedly to his partner:

"Now's our time! If we're anyways smart we'll get in before that copper
can catch us. Wait till somebody tries to pass, an' then scoot. Don't
stop if he yells, 'cause he won't dare leave here to chase us."

"I thought 'Lish Davis said he'd have his eye out so's you couldn't get
into the fire lines?"

"That's what he said."

"Ain't you 'fraid he'll be mad if he finds you in there?"

"He knows I've got to do this thing, else I'll never get posted on the
business; but of course if we should sneak in an' he told us to march
straight out ag'in, I'd feel as though I ought'er go. We won't stand
very near Ninety-four, an' then there'll be less chance of his knowin'
we're around."

The opportunity which Seth desired came a few seconds later.

Two gentlemen who were curious to see the workings of the Fire
Department nearer at hand than was possible while they remained outside
the lines, approached the officer on duty with the idea that it was
only necessary to bluster or threaten a little in order to pass him
without difficulty, and while they were alternately entreating and
threatening Seth gave the signal.

Stooping until their heads were beneath the rope, the two boys darted up
the street, which was covered with a veritable network of hose, and
before the officer was fully aware of their intentions they were lost to
his view amid the panting, quivering monsters of steel and iron whose
mission is to save, rather than destroy.

"There's 'Lish Davis on the engine!" Dan said, speaking indistinctly
because of his breath, which came thick and fast. "It looks to me as if
he has seen us."

"We'll keep over this way a bit where there's no danger of his comin'.
Watch our men try to get up that stairway! Ain't they the dandies!"

The fire was, as Seth had first surmised, in a storage warehouse, and it
appear