Dan also attended strictly to business, regardless of the many temptations to remain idle, and at two o'clock in the afternoon the partners had earned as much as would suffice to provide them with food during at least two days; but the question of lodgings yet remained to be settled.

"We'll go up now to see what Mr. Davis wants, an' then we must hustle for lodgin's. There'll be no more hangin' 'round Ninety-four's house after dark, 'cause it looks too much as if we was beggin'," Seth said as he met Dan, who reported that it wouldn't pay to buy another stock of papers that day.

Master Roberts made no reply to this remark.

He secretly hoped that it might be possible for them to sleep in the engine-house one more night at least, and believed Seth was foolishly sensitive about the matter.

According to his views on the subject, there was no good reason why they should not go even so far as to ask the firemen for a shelter, more particularly since they appeared to be so well disposed toward Seth.

The two boys arrived in the vicinity of the engine-house ten minutes before the time set, and Seth insisted that they should not present themselves until the hour named, consequently both lounged around near by until the clock struck three, when they marched boldly up to the open door.

The driver was on the lower floor as if awaiting their arrival, and greeted Seth in a manner both familiar and kind:

"So you've come, have you, Amateur? I was beginning to think you'd struck a business rush, and I shouldn't see you before to-morrow."

"You said we was to come at three o'clock, so I waited 'round till then."

"Afraid to get here ahead of time, eh?"

"I thought it was best to do as you told us, though we've been loafin'

outside for ten minutes."

Mr. Davis chuckled audibly, as if in the statement was something very comical, and not until after several seconds had elapsed did he speak, when it was to ask:

"Well, what have you two kids done about finding a place where you can sleep?"

"We're goin' to hustle lively after we leave here. We had to earn a little money first, an' it was pretty late when we got down-town, so we couldn't do any huntin'; but you can make certain some place will flash up before dark."

"I wouldn't wonder if it did, Amateur, I wouldn't wonder if it did. What made you late in getting down-town? I thought you left here earlier than usual."

"So we did, sir; but we met Jip Collins, an'----"

"The kid who started the fire in the lumber-yard?"

"Yes, sir, an' he's mighty sorry for what he did."

Then Seth repeated what had been said by the repentant boy, and gave a detailed account of the interview with Sam Barney, all of which appeared wonderfully amusing, not only to 'Lish Davis, but to all the men on the floor.

"And are you allowing to adopt this 'ere kid who is setting himself up as a firebug?" the driver asked when Seth had concluded the story.

"I'd like to give him one more show, for I don't believe he'll go wrong again, an' if we can get Sam Barney so far away that he can't come back, it may be done."

"But what about us? We're bound to give up all such information as we may happen to run across, and it's a serious matter to keep a close tongue on anything of that kind."

"Have you _got_ to get Jip arrested?" Seth asked in alarm.

"It's our duty, and I ain't so certain that he's reformed."

"But you never can know till he's been given a chance, an' it would be mighty tough if he had to have it put down against him when he grows up, that he's been in jail."

"I grant you all that, Amateur, yet the law says man or boy must pay the penalty for arson, and it wouldn't be fair to make an exception in his case."

"What do you mean by arson?"

"That's the name given to the crime of setting fires, and when the trick is played in the night, in a building where people are living, it costs the criminal a good many years of his life."

'Lish Davis was speaking very seriously now, and Seth literally trembled with apprehension for Jip.

"Ain't there anything I can do to help the poor feller out of the sc.r.a.pe?" he asked in a tone which told that the tears were very near his eyelids.

"That's what I can't say right on the spur of the minute; but I'll think the matter over, and it may be we'll see a way out if you're dead sure he won't try any more such games."

"I don't believe he will, 'cause he's feelin' mighty bad, an' promises to be straight after this."

"I've thought all along that he ought'er be sent up for startin' the fire," Dan said with an air of exceeding wisdom; "but Seth has been makin' such a row about givin' him another chance that I had to hold my tongue."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the amateur was nearer in the right than you are, Daniel, though the officers of the law may look at the matter in a different light. However, the young reprobate hasn't been caught yet, even if that keen-eyed detective of yours is on his track, and we'll drop the subject for a spell. What I wanted to see the amateur about was lodgings."

Dan's eyes sparkled, for he felt certain they were to be given quarters in the engine-house, and Seth looked really distressed.

"What's the matter?" 'Lish Davis asked in surprise as he noted the expression on the boy's face. "It don't seem to strike you right because I'm thinking of where you'll find a shelter."

"I'm 'fraid it'll seem like as if Dan an' I were beggin' for a bed. We can find one after a spell, an' it wouldn't be any new thing if we knocked around the streets a few nights."

"Now, don't distress yourself on the score of begging," the driver said with a hearty laugh. "I've come to know how thin-skinned you are on that point, and ain't counting on giving either of you the value of a pin.

But it so happens that a friend of mine lives in the next block, and he's got a room in his attic that he's just dying to let. I was telling him about you kids, and he'll make what I call a fair trade."

"Do you mean that we're to hire a reg'lar room?" Seth asked in surprise.

"Why not, if it comes cheap enough? Now, this 'ere place I'm speaking of ain't very swell, and I don't allow he could let it to any but boys like you. He'll give a lease of it, with bed and such furniture thrown in as his wife can scare up, for fifty cents a week. By blacking Ben Dunton's and my boots five mornings a week you'll have the price earned, and it'll pay a heap better than skinning 'round the streets, likely to be moved on by a policeman a dozen times 'twixt sunset and sunrise."

Seth looked suspiciously at 'Lish Davis.

The possibility of hiring a "reg'lar room" at such a low price had never before entered his mind, and he feared there might be something in regard to the transaction which was being kept a secret from him.

"Now, then, Amateur, what are you staring at? Do you think I'd give you any fairy story about the place? You'd better have a look at it before thinking it's a very big bargain," and the driver leaned back in his chair laughing heartily, although Seth could not understand what had so excited his mirth.

"We'll be mighty glad to get lodgin's at that price," Dan said promptly, and Mr. Davis handed him a card, on the back of which was written an address, saying as he did so:

"Go to that place, and ask to see the room 'Lish Davis was talking about. If it suits you, take it, and if it don't there's been no great harm done."

"You're mighty good to think of us in this way," Seth said, feeling almost ashamed because of his previous mistrust.

"Yes, I reckon I am; but we'll hope it don't spoil me," and again the driver gave way to his mirth.

CHAPTER VII.