admiration
of the stranger momentarily increased as he watched his skilful
pilotage.

"Indeed, Delancey, I am not at all ready to make an intimate
acquaintance with the 'Pot,' or 'Frying Pan,'" again exclaimed the
lawyer fireman.

Still, Hal insisted upon following, in hopes the stranger would tack
about.

"You have no fears?" said Hal, to his brother fireman, the merchant.

"Why no," he returned, calculatingly; "that is, if the risk is not too
great."

Now the waters became wilder, lashing against the rocks, leaping and
foaming; it was a dangerous thing to venture much farther, they must
turn back now or not at all; a few strokes more and they must keep on
steadily through the gate--one false movement would be their
destruction. The stranger's bark gradually distanced them--they saw it
enter among the whirling eddies--he missed the sound of their measured
strokes, glanced back, lost the balance of his oars, his boat upset, and
Hal saw neither no more. There, on that moonless, starless night, when
the darkness was blackest, just before the dawn, the brave fireman had
gone down in that whistling, groaning, shrieking, moaning, Tartarean
whirlpool! Mute horror stood on every face. Hal's grasp slackened; the
lawyer quickly seized the oars, and turned the boat's prow towards the
city.

"Do you not think we could save him?" gasped Hal, his face like the face
of the dead.

"Save him!" ejaculated the lawyer; "that's worse than mad! Malafert
alone can raise his bones along with 'Pot Rock.'"

Hal groaned aloud. Perhaps the stranger had no intention of going up the
river, until driven by them. It was a miserable thought, and hung with a
leaden weight upon Hal's spirit. He remained at home all the next day,
worn out and dejected. May rallied him.

"How I pity you, poor firemen! You get up at all times of the night,
work like soldiers on a campaign, and sometimes do not even get a 'thank
you' for your pay. You know I told you never to be a fireman!"

"I wish I had followed your advice," answered Hal, with something very
like a groan.

May started. She noticed how very pale he was, and bade him lie down on
the sofa. She brought a cushion, and sat down by his side.

"Now, Hal, you must tell me what troubles you. Has any one been
slandering the firemen? I will not permit that now, since I have so kind
a cousin in their ranks," said May, with a wicked little smile.

In vain she racked her brain for something to amuse h