“JUST AS EASY!”
Down the hill thundered the fire engine, the man on the back step
keeping the whistle going. Behind the steamer came the powerful
automobile containing Ned, Bob and Jerry, and after them came a crowd
of men and boys, while a car or two, not having the speed advantage of
the motor boys’ vehicle, trailed after.
“If they make the turn into Water street, a block above the river,
they’ll be safe,” said Ned to his tall chum beside him in the seat.
“The hill isn’t so steep there. But if they keep on down past Water
street----”
“It’s into the water for them!” grimly finished Jerry Hopkins. “We’ll
try to stop them before they get there.”
He gave the auto a little more gasoline, and it leaped forward. At the
same moment Bob yelled:
“There it is! See the blaze!”
He pointed off to the left, and there a glare in the sky, which
increased in brightness as the boys looked, could be observed.
“One of the tenements over in Frogtown!” exclaimed Ned, naming a poor
section of Cresville where lived a number of foreigners who worked in
the various factories. Of late a number of new industries had sprung
up in the place, and the foreigners, who made up a large share of
the workmen, were quartered in long rows of tenement houses, on the
outskirts of Cresville, the place being styled “Frogtown,” because
built on filled land, where once had been a frog-infested pond.
“If those shacks get to going there’ll be some fire,” murmured Ned.
“And they’ll get a good start if the engine doesn’t soon reach the
place.”
“Some one ought to send in another alarm, and bring out the other
engine,” added Bob. “This one won’t be much good if it goes to smash.”
“We’ve no time to send in alarms now,” muttered Jerry. “Let some one
else do that. We’ve got to stop those horses if we can!”
Ned and Bob clung to the sides of the car. This was in the lead now,
and nothing was between their automobile and the swaying, rumbling
engine.
Suddenly Ned gave a cry and pointed to something.
“What is it?” asked Jerry. “Another fire?”
“Look at that old man! Right in the path of the engine! The horses’ll
be on him in a minute!”
“That’s right!” chimed in Bob, from the rear seat. “Hi there! Get out
the way!” he yelled. “Don’t you see the engine?”
Certainly the man at the side of the road, standing in the full glare
of an arc electric light, ought to have heard the rattle of the
runaway engine, even if he did not see it, though the place was well
illuminated, and there was then no other vehicle in sight, save the
automobile of the motor boys. There was something familiar about the
odd figure, but neither Ned, Bob nor Jerry had time just then to look
closely enough to make out who it was.
“What’s he doing?” asked Jerry, as he skillfully guided his machine
and turned on a little more speed, for he was nearing the engine, and
wanted to be in a position to stop the runaway horses if he could.
“He seems to be picking up something off the ground, under the light,”
went on Ned. “Get out the way! Get out the way!” he yelled.
Then, for the first time, the little man at the side of the street
seemed aware of what was going on.
“Look at him!” cried Jerry.
“He’s right in the way of the horses!” added Ned.
“And he’s going to try to stop ’em!” came from Bob. “Oh, boy! what’ll
happen to him?”
And it was plain to the three chums that the little man was going to
make an effort to stop the runaways. At this point there was a slight
upward slant to the street, before it made the turn over the hill down
to the river.
The horses had slackened their speed somewhat, but they were still
running at a smart pace, when the little man, first laying something
carefully down in the grass at a safe distance from the road, stepped
out, and began running alongside the runaways.
“He knows something about the game,” murmured Ned. “Lots of folks that
try to stop a runaway horse get right in front. The only way to do is
to get alongside and grab the reins.”
“That’s what he’s doing! That’s what he’s _done_!” cried Bob.
And, indeed, the small man had. He ran alongside the off horse, until
he could reach up and grab the reins, and then he hung on and let his
weight tell. And it did, too, slight as it was. That, and the effect of
his voice (for the boys could hear him calling to the steeds to stop),
combined with the fact that the horses were tired and had a little hill
before them, gradually brought the runaways to a stop. The nigh horse
slipped and fell heavily, but the other retained its feet, and so did
the little man who had brought the animals to a stop.
“Say, did you see him do it?” cried Jerry to his chums.
“I should say yes!” chimed in Bob.
“Just as easy!” murmured Ned, admiringly. “Just as easy!”
“He certainly did know how to do it,” agreed Jerry, as he brought the
automobile to a stop near the throbbing engine, for now there was a
good head of steam up. The boys ran to where the little man still
stood. Ned was the first to reach him. The boy gave a cry.
“Professor Snodgrass!”
“What’s that?” asked Jerry, in surprise.
“It’s our old friend, Professor Uriah Snodgrass!”
“Great rattlesnakes, so it is!” shouted Bob.
And it was, indeed, the professor, now a member of the faculty of
Boxwood Hall, and a companion, more than once, of the boys on their
trips.
“Are you hurt, Professor?” asked Jerry, as he hurried to the side of
the little scientist, while the fireman of the steamer came forward to
relieve Mr. Snodgrass of the care of the standing horse.
“Hurt? No. Why?” asked the surprised scientist.
“Why because you stopped that runaway.”
“Runaway? Was that a _runaway_?” asked Professor Snodgrass in great
surprise.
“Of course it was!” cried Ned. “Didn’t you know it?”
“A runaway? No, my dear boy, I did not. I heard some yelling, and I saw
the fire engine coming my way. But the reason I stopped it was because
a little while ago I saw, just beyond, in the road, a most curious bug
of a kind that only appears early in April in this locality. I was
eager to get it, and I was afraid, if the horses and engine trampled
the roadway, that I would lose the exceedingly rare specimen. That’s
why I stopped the animals. I had no idea that it was a runaway, but I’m
glad if I have been of any service. If you’ll excuse me, now, I’ll go
and look for that bug,” and, as though it was his custom every evening
after supper to stop a runaway fire engine in danger of plunging into
the river, Professor Snodgrass turned aside and began searching in the
dust for the bug he wanted. Off to one side, in the grass where he had
carefully placed it before stepping out to stop the horses, was the
collecting box the boys knew so well.
“Isn’t he the limit?” cried Jerry.
“Same old professor. Hasn’t changed a bit,” observed Bob.
“Well, considering it was only about three weeks ago that we left him
at Boxwood Hall, there hasn’t been much time for change,” returned Ned,
with a laugh. “But say, fellows, what’s to be done?” he went on. “That
fire’s growing worse, and it looks as though one of these horses was
out of business.”
“He is,” said Hank Tedder, the engineer. “His leg’s broke. He’ll never
pull another engine. And how I’m going to get this steamer to the
fire--first alarm it’s ever responded to--I don’t know.”
The boys did not either--that is Ned and Bob did not. But Jerry did. He
was always resourceful.
“Unhitch the horses!” he cried to Hank. “Push the engine back so it
clears, and we’ll tow it to the fire with our auto.”
“Can you?” asked Ned.
“Sure. We’ve got plenty of power, and it’s a level road from here on.
Downhill, if anything. You can ride on the seat, Hank, and put on the
brake when it’s needed. Come on, boys!”
“All right. And it can’t be any too soon!” murmured Bob, as he looked
at the reddening sky.
“They may send the other engine,” said Jake Todger, another fireman
who came up in some one’s automobile just then. He worked to free the
injured horse while the boys unharnessed the other one. Professor
Snodgrass seemed to have forgotten about everything but the bug he was
looking for in the dust of the road, under the electric light.
With straps from the harness, and a strong towline carried on the auto,
the machine was soon hitched to the steamer, and then Jerry once more
took his position at the steering wheel.
“Going to leave the professor here?” asked Bob, as Hank climbed to the
driver’s seat of the steamer, while Jake got on behind.
“Guess we’ll have to,” replied Ned. “I didn’t know he was in town. He
must have just arrived, and probably he has come to pay one of us a
visit. He’ll look us up later--when he’s found that bug. Best to leave
him alone.”
“That’s right,” agreed Jake. “Anything to get to the fire. This has
been an awful night!”
“And it’s only just begun,” observed Jerry, as he thought of the
patriotic meeting he and the others had left to go to see where the
fire was.
Off started the powerful automobile pulling the engine, while the red
blaze in the sky grew brighter.