by the nape of the neck
with a grip that almost choked him--strong though he was--and thrust him
out of the room, down the stairs, and out into the street, where he gave
him a final kick, and shut the door.

"Oh, dear Joe!" exclaimed Mary, on his return, "you shouldn't have been
so violent to 'im."

"W'y not, Molly? Surely you would not have me stand by and look on,
while he insulted you and knocked down the boy?"

"No, but it would have been a better rebuke if you had ordered him off
quietly. No good ever comes of violence, Joe, and he's such a spiteful,
vindictive man that he will never forgive you--perhaps he'll do you a
mischief if he ever gets the chance."

"I hope he will never get the chance," replied Joe. "I hope not, but I
fear him," said Mary. "But tell me, Joe, how has the operation
succeeded?"

"First-rate, Molly. Ned and I are blood-relations now! I don't know
how much they took out o' me, but it don't signify, for I am none the
worse, an' poor Ned seems much the better."

Here Joe entered into a minute detail of all that had been done--how a
puncture had been made in one of the veins of his arm, and another in
one of the veins of Ned's arm; and how the end of a small tube with a
bulb in the middle of it had been inserted into _his_ puncture, and the
other end into _Ned's_ puncture, and the blood pumped, as it were, from
the full-blooded man into the injured man until it was supposed that he
had had enough of it; and how Ned had already shown signs of revival
while he, (Joe), didn't feel the loss at all, as was made abundantly
evident by the energetic manner in which he had kicked Mr Sparks out of
his house after the operation was over.

To all this Mary listened with wide open eyes, and Fred Crashington
listened with wider open eyes; and little Rosebud listened with eyes and
mouth equally open--not that she understood anything of it, but because
the others were in that condition.

"Now, May, my pet," cried the fireman, catching up his little one and
tossing her in the air, "Ned, that is so fond of you, is a
blood-relation, so you may call him `uncle' next time he comes--uncle
Ned!"

"Unkil Ned," lisped the Rosebud.

"And me cousin," chimed in Fred.

"Iss--cuzn," responded May.

"Just so," cried Joe, seizing Fred round the waist and tossing him on
his right shoulder--Rosebud being already on his left--"come, I'll carry
you down the fire-escape now; hurrah! down we go."

How long Joe