THE FALSE ALARM
After receiving Mazie’s assurance that the little waif of the schoolhouse
would be properly cared for, Johnny went at once to his own room, where
he caught ten winks before the sun was high.
After a hasty breakfast, he returned to the scene of the fire. He found
heaps of charcoal and broken timbers smouldering beneath piles of brick,
but fortune favored his search. The section of basement that had been
directly beneath the office was entirely free from fire and bricks. He
was soon busily poking round in the ashes.
“A mechanism”; he thought to himself, “a thing of wheels and a spring
like an alarm clock is what I’m looking for—a thing that runs just so
long, then starts something.”
“But not necessarily so complicated,” he thought a moment later as he
recalled the story of a firebug who, having soaked a common wooden mouse
trap with kerosene, had baited it carefully and had so attached a match
to the spring of the trap that when a mouse sprang it the match would
light. He had then set the trap at the bottom of a huge waste paper
basket into which the papers and scraps from noon hour lunch boxes had
been cast.
“Simple, but possibly effective,” he said to himself. Then, almost
humorously, he began keeping an eye out for the heat reddened wires of a
mouse trap.
Not even these rewarded his search. Only the things common to a school
office were to be found. Pencil ends, the remains of a pencil sharpener,
metal backs to loose-leaf blank books, the charred remains of a
telephone, blackened electric light fixtures and wires, wires, wires
running everywhere.
“Nothing to be learned here,” he told himself.
Picking up the metal base of the telephone, he examined it idly. Then of
a sudden he looked at it with a keen interest.
“That’s queer,” he muttered, “two sets of wires running from it, one
heavier than the other. Wonder what that could mean. Trace ’em out.”
He did trace them out. He found that one pair, as the usual wires always
do, led to a small pipe outside the wall. The other pair, fine and short,
not more than fifteen feet long, ended in nothing at all—just broke off
abruptly.
“Huh!” he mused, “that’s queer!”
“Not so queer after all, perhaps,” he added after a moment’s thought.
“Most likely ran to a bell jack in another room. Then if the clerk or
principal were working in that room and the phone rang, the bells would
repeat the call. Nothing simpler than that. Nothing to it, after all.”
“But where’s the jack,” he thought again. “The box would burn, but there
are fine coils on a spool inside. They wouldn’t burn; neither would the
bells.”
A careful search brought no reward. If there had been a bell jack the
metal parts had vanished. This puzzled Johnny but he placed little
importance on the circumstance.
“Doesn’t mean anything,” he muttered as he lifted himself up from the
basement. “Just have to check this fire off as a complete loss, unless
the discovery of that pink-eyed man means something. I may see him
sometime. And then, of course, what Tillie McFadden told me about being
in the office almost up to the time of the fire seems to show that the
fire was arranged for in advance. But how? That’s the question. All I’ve
got to say is, this firebug is no ordinary rascal. He’s a man of keen
mind. He’ll be hard to catch.”
He took the car downtown. It was his intention to go to the central
station and report to Chief McQueen, but as he was about to change cars
he chanced to notice a head and a pair of shoulders ahead of him that
looked familiar. At that moment the man turned his head. Johnny saw his
eyes. They were pink. Somewhat unsteadily he dropped back in his seat.
His thoughts raced. The man was his pink-eyed stranger of the night
before. What should he do? Call a policeman? This thought was instantly
abandoned. A man could scarcely be arrested for the look on his face, and
that was really all he had seen amiss in the man. Follow him? If
possible, learn something of his haunts? That was better. He’d do that.
Scarcely had he settled back comfortably in his seat than the man pressed
the button, then rose to get off. Johnny followed.
Once off the car the man struck directly across the street, walked a half
block, then turned to the right. He was now at the river. He went down a
narrow, dirty sort of boat landing that skirted the river. Johnny could
not follow here without being noticed, so, walking out on the bridge, he
kept a watch from the corner of his eye.
About a block from the street the man turned again, this time to vanish.
He had entered a door.
After carefully counting first the windows, then the doors in that block,
then noting the type of building the man had entered, Johnny left the
bridge to follow the street. Then, after turning the corner, he came up
to the front of the building the man had entered.
Before that building he paused. “That’s it,” he murmured. “Funny sort of
place to be going into.”
The place did seem strange. It was a store front, but the room on the
street had not been used for months. The dust was so thick on the windows
that one could discern objects within only as through a fog. The doorway
was littered with heaps of dirty bits of paper deposited there by the
wind.
“Been a commission merchant’s place sometime,” was Johnny’s mental
comment as he caught a glimpse of dust blackened banana crates within.
“Ships brought in produce and landed it at the back. Business didn’t
thrive. Too far east on this street.”
“Well,” he sighed, “guess that’s about all for this time. Won’t forget
the place, though, nor Mister Pink-Eyes either,” and with that he turned
and headed for the central fire station.
“Johnny,” said the Chief as they sat in his office that afternoon, “I
hope you realize the importance of the work you are attempting to do.”
“I hope so too,” said Johnny.
“You’re not a detective, Johnny. Your work is more that of an inspector.
An inspector looks into the cause of fires and tries to prevent them.
Man’s best friend, and worst enemy, is fire. It’s a case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde. The Mr. Hyde side of fire is a heartless brute. We are
constantly attempting to destroy that side of his nature. All men should
be enlisted on our side. Unfortunately, all are not. Those who go over to
the enemy must be treated as enemies. They must be captured and
imprisoned. There are times when I think the worst of them should be
shot.
“It’s not the loss of property that’s the worst of it, but the loss of
human life. And life, Johnny,” the inspector laid a hand on Johnny’s
knee, “human life is the most precious thing in the world, and any man
who has the slightest disregard for the ‘least of these’ isn’t fit to
live. It would be better that a stone be tied about his neck and that he
be cast into the midst of the sea. That’s what the Good Book says,
Johnny, and it’s true, almighty true.”
“Coming up to the central alarm to-night?” he asked after a moment’s
silence.
Johnny nodded.
“Good.”
“Going to bring a friend,” said Johnny, easily.
“Who?”
“A girl pal.”
“Girl?” The chief frowned.
“Wait till you know her,” grinned Johnny.
Eleven o’clock that night found Johnny and Mazie in the place of the
central alarm. The Chief was there too and was as much pleased with
Johnny’s choice of a pal as he might have been had Mazie been his own
daughter.
As for Mazie, she was thrilled to the tips of her fingers by this place
of ticking instruments, clanging gongs and leaping light.
“See those red, white and green spots of light up there?” said the Chief.
“Well, those are located on the map of the city. They stand for fire
stations. Red is for a fire engine, white for a hook and ladder company.
If a spot is half red and half white it means that the station houses two
companies, one engine and one hook and ladder. Green is for an emergency
squad. When a fire alarm is sent in we know that certain companies will
go out, say 12, 18 and 30. By moving plugs I darken their lights. We can
tell by a glance at the map just how our forces stand.
“Fighting fires,” he smiled, “is just like directing forces in a war. It
chances that I am commander-in-chief. I arrange my forces just as a great
army commander does. If an alarm comes in, say from the stock yards, four
companies, 5, 13, 23 and 40 go out at once. Their absence leaves a dark
spot on the map.
“It proves to be a bad fire. The marshal sends in the second alarm. At
once companies 7, 41, 63 and 70 go out. A broader spot is darkened. I am
beginning to think of reinforcements. The fire spreads. The third alarm.
Companies 16, 29, 86 and 94 go out. More darkness on the map. Time for
reinforcements, for, should a new fire break out in that area, there
would be no one to respond. At once I send out an order for 103, 109, 31
and 42 to move up to the positions previously occupied by 16, 29, 86, and
94.
“Oh, I tell you,” he enthused, “it is a wonderful war; not against one’s
fellow, but a war against one of the manifestations of nature. It’s a
clean fight, with no one’s blood on your hands when the battle’s won.
“The pity is,” his voice dropped to a low rumble, “that some of our
fellow men go over from time to time to join the enemy. It’s a shame and
a disgrace. It’s such traitors as these that are keeping Johnny and me
awake nights now, as you know all too well,” he said turning to Mazie.
“Wha—what’s that?” exclaimed the girl.
A yellow light had leaped up, over and down, up, over and down. An
instrument had begun to chatter.
“It’s the first alarm; close in,” said the Chief. “May be serious; may be
only a false alarm.”
“Barney & Kuhl warehouse, 18th and Michigan,” the operator droned into
the receiver, “18th and Michigan, the Barney & Kuhl warehouse.”
A moment later, like an echo, his message came back to him through the
megaphone.
“That’s a big place. May be serious. I hope not, though. I——”
The chief’s speech was checked by the stutter of an instrument.
Leaping toward the instrument he seized the narrow white tape which,
moving out from the instrument, was marked with red dots and dashes.
“The second alarm,” he murmured. “Looks bad. Marshal Neil signs. He’s one
of our best. Companies 1, 17, 42, 71 and 98 go out on the call. That
makes ten companies in all.
“Leaves a rather large area unprotected.” His brow wrinkled as he studied
the broad dark spot on the map.
For a moment he stood there as if in deep thought. Then, to the operator:
“Finley, call 3, 10, 14, 21 and 104 to the positions of the companies
just called out.”
Instantly there came the flash of a light, the clatter of instruments,
and the thing was done. Well done, too, for a moment later, into the
startled silence of the room, came the clatter of the third alarm.
“The third alarm. Five more companies. I must go!” exclaimed the Chief.
“Will you go, Johnny? It may be your chance.”
“And Mazie?” asked Johnny.
“Crowd her in,” grumbled the Chief.
A moment later they were speeding southward.
Down deserted streets they sped, past groups of night prowlers, round
corners, by slow-moving milk wagons, their gong ever clearing the way.
“Strange,” murmured the Chief, straining his eyes ahead. “Don’t see much
smoke. No blaze. No blaze. Mighty queer.”
Then as they whirled around a corner the whole truth came to him in a
flash. He had been tricked. Three alarms had been turned in; three, and
every one of them a _false alarm_! The perpetrator knew what Marshal Neil
signed. He knew the call. Before them, lined up for three blocks, was a
red row of fire fighting trucks, but no fire.
“It’s a plot,” the Chief muttered through tight set teeth. “I wonder what
it means?”
He had not long to wait, for the answer came quickly. This broad area had
been cleared of fire fighting equipment that a clean break might be given
to another blaze that had been set. Certainly this must be true, for even
as they stood there wondering they heard the distant siren of a fire
engine.
“It’s the reserves I called up!” the chief exclaimed. “Thank God for
them. They have answered the alarm of the real fire. Soon we will all be
on our way. Straight ahead!” he exclaimed to his driver.
The car shot ahead and in less than a moment they were amongst the throng
of bewildered fire fighters.
“It’s a real fire and a bad one,” said the Chief two minutes later as
they came for the first time that night in sight of a furnace-like glow.