CHAPTER IX.

LOOKING FOR A SETTLEMENT.

Lying on the floor near the fireplace was a kerosene-lamp, the glass shade of which was broken. The fire had started at this part of the room; and it was evident that the little girl had lighted the lamp, and dropped it upon the hearth. Doubtless she had tried to put out the fire, and the flame had communicated with her dress.

The ceiling of the room was plastered, but the walls were cased with pine. With this combustible material to supply it, the fire had rapidly crept to the ceiling, and penetrated the attic above. Ash Burton saw that it was useless to pour water on the flame below while the fire was rapidly ascending to the roof. With a bucket of water he led the way up-stairs, and found the fire just coming through the floor.

He turned the water very carefully into the hole which the fire had made, though he was very nearly suffocated by the smoke that filled the attic. The effect was immediately visible: the flame was checked, though the smoke continued to pour out of the opening. Taking the water brought by his companions, he used it to the best advantage. Their work appeared to be accomplished in this part of the house, and Ash sent part of the boys down to dash water on the burning boards in the room where they had found the children.

For some time the boys watched and worked, pouring on water whenever they found any signs of fire.

The flames had destroyed the wall by the side of the fireplace, and made a considerable opening into the attic. The smoke had been very trying to the young firemen, for the rooms were filled with it. When Syl Peckman opened one of the windows, Ash instantly closed it; for he knew that the draught of air would feed the flame with the element it needed to increase its force. They worked as long as they could find any vestige of fire.

They had broken in the front door so that they could the more readily get the water where it was needed; but after he went up stairs, Ash did not come down till the fire was out. The others had a little relief from the smoke when they went out for water; but he remained in the attic to pour on the water, and he suffered much more than his companions. His eyes rained tears, and they were red and swollen. All of them attended to these important organs as soon as they found the time, and washed them thoroughly. The fresh air and the water soon relieved them in a great measure.

There had been smoke enough to be seen in the distance; and when the fire was fully extinguished, people began to arrive. The smoke had been seen by some men at work in the field, and they had given the alarm. They were too late to be of any service in putting out the fire; but they took the two children, and conveyed them to the next house.

The older girl was not so badly burned as the boys feared in the beginning. She and the little one had evidently begun to scream before her dress took fire, probably terrified when they saw the flames running up the wooden wall. It takes longer to tell the story than it did for the fire to get under way. The boys were not far from the house when they heard the screams; and the child's clothes could not have been burning more than a moment when they came to her relief.

The girl's hands, and her limbs near the knees, were considerably burned, and she had received injury enough to cause her great pain. The farmer and his two men were the first to arrive; but the fire was out, and the good man gave all his attention to the sufferer. His house was but a short distance from the cottage; and he carried her there, assisted by one of his men. On his arrival he sent his companion for the doctor.

Before he could reach his home, an engine from the town, which was not half a mile distant, rushed to the scene of the fire. The foreman examined the premises, but he could not find any fire. He bustled about for a time while he made his examination, but there was nothing else for him to do.

"It came very near burning the house," said he to Ash Burton, who showed him over the premises, and explained the situation. "How did it take fire?"

"The girl was in so much pain that I did not ask her any questions," replied Ash, as he led the fireman into the front room, in which the family lived. "There is a kerosene-lamp on the floor, and the fire began there. The shade is broken, and perhaps the girl dropped the lamp on the floor after she had lighted it."

"What was she doing with a lamp in the middle of the afternoon?" asked the foreman.

"That is more than I know; but it looks as though the fire was caused by dropping the lamp on the floor," replied Ash.

"It was lucky for the owner that you happened to be near," continued the fireman. "Where were you when you saw the fire?"

"We were just coming around that bend in the road when we heard the screams of the children. We did not see the fire at first. When we got here the doors were all fastened, and we had to beat in the back one with a stick of wood. We put out the fire in the girl's clothes first, and then we poured water on the flames."

As the man asked more questions, Ash explained fully the manner in which they had treated the girl, and then put out the fire.

"You have saved the house; and if you had been a minute later, the little girl might have lost her life. You boys have done remarkably well. You have been brave and resolute, and you have managed the fire with excellent judgment," said the foreman, when he had learned all the facts. "Most boys would have continued to throw water on the fire in the room below; but you went up-stairs, where alone the fire could be checked. You have done well; and the whole fire-department of Genverres, if it had been here, could not have accomplished any more, or done it more neatly."

"Ash Burton was the leader of the party, and he found all the brains," said Chick Penny magnanimously.

"That's so; we followed his lead," added Sam Spottwood; and the others expressed their assent.

"I thank you, sir, for what you have said. I tried to do the best I could, and I am glad we succeeded; for I am sure I could not have done any thing if the other fellows had not worked like firemen. They all behaved first-rate, and did not give up when the smoke had strained their eyes nearly out of their heads," returned Ash, giving his companions the credit they deserved.

"There is nothing for us to do here, and we may as well return to our quarters. I am afraid that child is badly burned, and we will stop at the house where she is," continued the foreman, giving his men the order to return.

The rope of the engine was not very heavily manned, and the six boys were permitted to take part in dragging the machine back to town; and this, to the average boy, is supposed to be fun, however it may be with full-grown men. They were all well rested after the work they had done, and they had even forgotten for the time the unpleasant results of the cruise of the Goldwing. The engine stopped at the next house, where the farmer lived. Ash Burton and the foreman went in to inquire about the sufferer.

"I am keeping her quite comfortable by putting cold water on the burns about once a minute," said the farmer's wife. "I don't know as the doctor will approve of it when he comes, and I should not apply my remedy if the burns were on the head or body. For burns in any other places, cold water is my remedy, because it deadens the pain at once."

"How does the girl seem?" asked the foreman.

"She is pretty badly burned, but she will get over it without any trouble. I always told Mrs. Sankland that she ought not to lock up the children when she went out to work; but the poor woman has a terrible hard time of it, and I suppose she could not help it, for she has to earn enough to get food for her family," replied the good woman.

"But she has a son," suggested the fireman.

"It would be a good deal better for her if she had no son, for he is a good-for-nothing fellow. He won't work to earn any thing, or even take care of the children while his mother is at work. She has to feed him, and it would be a good thing if she had one less mouth to fill."

"He is a bad boy, and runs with Tom Topover, which is enough to condemn any boy," added the fireman.

Ash Burton and his companions winced under this remark, and they were glad they had gone so far as to resolve to avoid him in the future.

"My husband would give the boy work all summer, and pay him all he could earn; but he will not do a thing, and he is worrying the life out of his mother," continued the farmer's wife. "I think something ought to be done with him; and it would be a good thing if he could be sent to the house of correction, or some other institution, where he could be made to work."

The foreman of the engine quite agreed with her, and promised to inquire into the matter on his return to the town. The march, for it was not a run on the return, was resumed with the machine, which soon reached its destination. Several persons who kept horses had ridden out to see where the fire was, and the report of what had happened was already in circulation through the place.

It was not more than four o'clock, and the reformed Topovers—as they regarded themselves—were not inclined to go home until they had done something about the cruise of the Goldwing. As they came out of the engine-house, they saw Captain Gildrock in his buggy. He had stopped in the street, and was talking to a fireman who had just left the engine.

The reformers halted, and decided to hail the principal as soon as he finished his conversation with the man. The latter seemed to be talking to him very earnestly, and pointed down the street. Suddenly the captain turned his horse in the direction the man had pointed, and drove off so rapidly that the boys could not hail him. He turned the next corner, and the boys followed him.

They had gone to another corner when they saw the captain's team standing at the door of a mechanic's shop. He had left the vehicle, and secured the horse by a weight. Sam suggested that he was getting out a warrant for the arrest of those who had stolen the sloop; but Ash was confident that no magistrate lived on that street, which was occupied mainly by mechanics' shops and small factories.

"I don't want to miss him next time," said Ash. "I should like to have this business settled, or at least to know what is going to be done about it, before I go home. Captain Gildrock goes off like a rifle-shot when he starts, and seems to be thinking of something all the time."

"That's so," Sam replied. "We don't want to disturb him while he is busy about something. I will go around to the main street, and stop him if he comes out that way."

This suggestion was approved and adopted. Sam and two of the party went around, and soon appeared at the other end of the street, for they did not want to be seen till the principal had time to attend to them.

It was all of half an hour before Captain Gildrock appeared.