When the order "Take up" was finally given that afternoon to the array
of fire companies that covered the first and second fire districts, most
of Pop's boys were still among the swarm of spectators. The fire had
broken out soon after nine o'clock, and not until one were some of the
companies sent home. Under the system existing in those days every
engine, hose, and hook and ladder company whose station was north of
Twenty-second or south of Sixtieth Street had had to answer that
alarm,--old "Black Joke," Engine Company 33, having to drag their heavy
"Carson" machine all the way from the neighborhood of Fifty-ninth Street
and Broadway. There was nothing left of the house in which the fire
started, and neighboring buildings were badly scorched in places and
more or less damaged by water. There were no "chemicals" then. The
stable had been in danger several times, and Pop's boys had performed
prodigies of valor early in the affair, leading out the affrighted
horses and wheeling buggies and wagons into the street. The cars on
Fourth Avenue had to stop for over an hour, so numerous were the lines
of hose, and both that avenue and Twenty-fifth Street and the roofs and
windows of adjoining buildings were thronged with lookers-on. The Doctor
was much displeased on his arrival to find his back windows occupied on
both floors by total strangers, who made themselves perfectly at home
and couldn't be induced to leave by any intimation of the janitor that
the principal would like to close up. The Doctor was more than
displeased when he heard from Halsey of the filching of the gold. No
pupil saw that interview. A few of the smaller boys were at the back
widows, but only John noted the two in their grave consultation, and he
was promptly ordered to leave the room, and could only guess what was
going on until the following day. As the firemen stretched their
drag-ropes and started for home Halsey suggested summoning the boys back
to their seats and studies, but Pop said no,--it was too late in the
day. He wished to think, and, tucking the cash and checks in an inside
pocket and his cane under his arm, leaving Halsey to see to the closing
up of the rooms, the Doctor went slowly down-stairs and out upon the
crowded street. He had had to thread his way through the jam at
Twenty-fifth Street, and wanted no more of that. A line of hose
stretched along the sidewalk from the hydrant at the corner below, and
he looked upon it with stern and scholastic disapproval, but followed
its lead and came upon a familiar face. It being a "neighborhood" fire,
the Metamora Hose had run over from Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first
Street, being almost as soon upon the scene as 61. Taking the hydrant at
Twenty-fourth Street, her men had unreeled up the avenue and around the
stable, giving their "butt" to Lexington 7, who, with their big
double-decker, came speeding over from Third Avenue. And now the
prettily painted hose carriage was drawn up close to the curb at
Twenty-fourth Street, and half a dozen young fellows were lolling about
the wheels and tongue, smoking and talking loudly, with much exaggerated
imitation of the Bowery dialect of the day. But the slangy, swaggering
talk came to sudden stop. Two cigars, at least, were tossed or dropped
into the flooded gutters, and two or three hats were lifted as Hoover,
Briggs, and a "horsey" young man, whose specialties were cock-fights and
"canine sports," suddenly recognized the Doctor. With grave dignity Pop
lifted his beaver, and his stern eyes gazed in disapprobation upon the
party. He knew the others, as he did his own black sheep, at a glance.
There were the Hulkers, the flashiest of New York youths, the objects of
his especial dislike. He had known their father, a worthy man despite
his swiftly acquired wealth, and the boys, too, had spent six months
within the Doctor's walls before the death of that lamented financier.
But a doting mother had long since withdrawn them from the tyranny and
oppression to which her beloved sons were there subjected. The Doctor
had his regular habits and his regular route. No boy there had ever
known him to turn southward from his school door before this day, and
his coming suddenly upon them was a shock so severe that it dashed for
the moment even Briggs's effrontery. Hoover turned a sickly yellow, and
looked as though he would have been glad to crawl under the hose
carriage. Briggs "made a sneak" to get the reel between him and the
Doctor's glowering eyes, but Pop halted short and stood with pointed
cane, and Briggs saw it was useless and crawled out again. "Smoking!"
said the rector, comprehending the sextette in general condemnation.
"Idling! Wasting the substance of honest men in forbidden and stolen
indulgence. Here, you, sir!" to Briggs, "get you gone out of this. Go
home and study, and if you miss a line of to-morrow's lessons I'll pack
you out of school." "Pack" as a verb and "copious" as an adjective were
pets in the rector's school vocabulary. "The same to you, my horsey
young friend, Mr. Brodrick. As for you," he continued, addressing the
Hulkers and their companion, who, with hands in pockets and hats tipped
back, were striving to keep up appearance of bravado, "I shall reach you
through another channel." Then, his manner suddenly changing, he turned
on Hoover, now blinking and sidling away through the quickly gathering
knot of inquisitive folk. "Hoover, come with me," he said, and Hoover,
who looked as though he would give a year of his life to get out of the
way, meekly slunk along at the Doctor's side.
Majestically the rector strode across the street and went on southward,
vouchsafing no word to the culprit on his left. There were still curious
knots of loungers along the avenue. One or two companies were manning
the brakes in Twenty-fourth Street, the hose of their engines being
carried through the basements of the red brick houses to the rear of the
wrecked premises. Furtively Briggs and Brodrick watched the pair until
lost to sight, all but the Doctor's hat, in the throngs along the walk.
Then an anxious, nervous glance was exchanged, and Brodrick whispered to
his freckle-faced schoolmate. "What's he heard, d'you s'pose?" was his
query.
"We'd better look up 61 and see what the other fellows know," said
Briggs, in low tone, while the Hulkers, now that the rector was well
away, resumed their loud laughter. "You go, Brod; I can't show up in
that crowd just now." The memory of the assault on Snipe was still fresh
in the minds of some of the lads. Very possibly it was this that held
the Hulkers and their henchmen so far away from the fire itself and from
the spot where, over a block away, 61's white hose-reel and silver lamps
could be seen above the crowd. Even now that shame and suspicion
attached to George Lawton's name, those fellows, lately his accusers, if
not indeed his active assailants, felt it unsafe to venture among a lot
of the First Latin.
Brodrick peered up the street and shook his head. "Not if the court
knows herself," he said, with the Bowery drawl; then, turning to Hulker,
"Sa-ay, Skinny, gimme 'nother seegar." But the Hulker apostrophized as
"Skinny" declined.
"You've cleaned me out of the last one. Go buy some if you want 'em."
"I ain't got a dime. Hope to drop dead next minute if I have. Sa-ay,
lend me five dollars till Christmas on that watch-chain?" he pleaded,
lifting a clumsy production from a waistcoat-pocket. But the next minute
he thrust it back in haste and confusion. Beach, with observing eye,
came sweeping down upon them. "Mr. Halsey wishes to see you both at
once," said he, with scant ceremony. "Lose no time," and, though the
message filled them both with uneasiness, neither dare disregard it.
Halsey sat at the old table as they slunk into the school-room. Two or
three First Latin men and Second Latin boys were grouped about him;
John, the janitor, was dodging about the door. Every boy in the number
had on his overcoat, but at least half a dozen others had left theirs
hanging on the rack.
"Yes, sir, I know whose they are," Doremus was saying. "There's
Beekman's, and there's Bagshot's, and that's Prime's, and those are
Second Latin coats," he added, with proper indifference to the infant
garments. Halsey thought a moment.
"They must still be somewhere about," he said, tentatively, as Briggs
and Brodrick ranged up behind the smaller lads. "Where's Hoover?" he
questioned. "He was with you a moment ago."
"Gone with the Doctor, sir," said Briggs, glad enough to have no harder
question to answer.
A long hook-and-ladder truck that had been standing for some hours in
front of the school was being reloaded with its ladders, and its gong
was sounding to recall scattered members of the company. Some small boys
had tiptoed to the window to feast their eyes on the unaccustomed sight.
"There's some of our fellows over by 61's Hose now, sir," piped a
junior, and John was bidden to go and again summon all stragglers into
school. Ringing of his bell had only resulted in derisive comment among
the firemen. Some company just starting for home was receiving the
customary "hi, hi" of the hangers-on about the other machines, and
John's mandates produced no immediate effect. At last, however, the boys
came straggling up in knots of two or three, and presently perhaps a
dozen were added to the group about the master's table. He was listening
rather absently to the excited talk. No less than six or eight of the
youngsters had personally rescued as many horses apiece, despite the
fact that there never were more than twenty of those quadrupeds, all
told, in the adjoining stable. Halsey made Briggs repeat his statement
as to Hoover and seemed disappointed. "Is this all you can find?" he
finally said to the janitor, and John declared it was.
"Didn't you tell me Prime was down there, somewhere?" asked Halsey of
Doremus.
"He's sure to be, sir. His coat's here yet."
So again the janitor was sent forth, and again came back to say he could
see nothing of the lad, and at last the master decided to keep the
others no longer. Bagshot took his coat and left. There were only two
remaining on the rack when the usual hour for closing school drew nigh.
The occupants of the rear windows by this time had satisfied their
curiosity and departed, and John had been ordered to keep the doors
closed and to admit no more. For some reason Halsey seemed to hang on to
Briggs to the very last, and he and Brodrick were still fretting about
the benches, awaiting the master's permission to retire and glancing
apprehensively at each other from time to time.
At last Halsey beckoned them to his side.
"Where were you when the class followed me into the other room?" asked
he of Briggs.
"_With_ 'em, sir!" said Briggs, with eagerness. "Wasn't I, Brodrick? We
were among the first to follow."
"Yes, sir," asseverated Brodrick as positively. "We chased right in
after you."
"How long did you stay in there?" asked Halsey. "I'm told you were among
the first to bolt down-stairs--before school was dismissed."
"A minute or two, anyhow," declared Briggs. "I thought school was
dismissed or I wouldn't 'a' run."
"Did the whole class follow? Did any remain?" he asked, searching the
anxious features before him. He and Beach had already talked this over
among themselves. John, too, had been examined, but further testimony
was needed. Briggs reflected.
"Hoover was there, sir, and Shorty Prime."
"When you came out, do you mean?"
"Ye-ye-yes, sir. 't least Prime was. I didn't see Hoover."
"Where was Prime? Are you sure he was there?"
"Right up at the Doctor's desk, sir, where you were sitting."
"He was there still when you came out?"
"Ye-yes, sir. Wasn't he, Brodrick?"
Brodrick thought so, but couldn't be sure. He had "grabbed his cap and
run." "They were all rushing down from the English department
up-stairs."
Halsey's dark face was very dark now. His eyes were full of doubt and
dread. "I want you to be very careful of what you say, Briggs, and to
say nothing to anybody of what you have said." And while they were still
in conference steps were heard upon the stairs, and presently in came
the two pony members of the First Latin, Prime and Beekman, and Prime
was a sight to behold.
"What on earth have you been doing with yourself?" queried Halsey, as he
half turned and looked the youngster over from head to foot. Shorty's
clothes were wet and bedraggled, his face smudged with soot, but his
eyes sparkling with life and animation. He had not looked so much like
his old self since Lawton's disappearance.
"Had 28's pipe, sir, the last hour," said the boy, with a grin of pride.
"They were only pumping easy to soak down the ruins, and their fellows
were tired out and let me and Julian have it."
"Where's Julian?"
"Gone home, sir. He's wet through."
"So are you, but--don't go just yet. That's all, you others," said
Halsey, whereat the three slowly vanished, leaving only the janitor
staring at the door.
"Go out and shut that door, and keep it shut," said Halsey, shortly, to
the open-mouthed servitor, and then he turned on the boy, now warming
his hands at the big stove. "Prime," said he, "you were with me at the
desk when that alarm came. What became of you? What did you do?"
"I, sir? I went like a streak for 61."
"At once, do you mean?--right after the class ran after me into Mr.
Meeker's room?"
"_Before_ the class ran after you," said Shorty, with an injured air. No
fireman would waste so many valuable seconds. "I was down-stairs and
out of the school before they were fairly off the benches."
"How could you get your cap, sir?"
"Didn't take it, sir! I ran bare-headed to Twenty-sixth Street, hoping
to be the first to give 'em a still before I saw 'em coming."
"Give them a still! What's that?"
"A still alarm, sir. Give them a tip to the fire. But it must have been
going some minutes. They were spinning down the avenue by the time I got
half-way. Then I came back for my cap, and school was coming out."
"Did you speak to any of them? What boys saw you coming back?" asked
Halsey, thoughtfully.
"Oh, I don't know, sir," answered the youngster. "Everybody was excited,
I suppose, but me. I've always run to fires since I was knee-high. They
were all shouting. You were just coming out of Mr. Meeker's room, and I
nearly ran into you."
"Do you mean you ran to Twenty-sixth Street and back in that time?"
"_More_'n that, sir. I ran half-way to Twenty-seventh and out into the
street and grabbed hold of 61's rope. There were only six or seven
fellows on her, and I ran with 'em to the corner hydrant."
Something of the master's trouble was now reflecting in the pupil's
face. Something in the minuteness of Halsey's questioning suggested
graver trouble. "I hope nothing's wrong, sir," said Prime, anxiously.
"I know I oughtn't to have run when I did without permission, but--we
don't have a fire next door every day."
Halsey rose and placed the long, lean hand on the little fellow's
shoulder. Two years and more he had known him. He and "Tut" had given
him the first touches in Latin and Greek, and, as head-master, Halsey
had had many an occasion to reprove or reprimand, for high spirits or
mischief led to many a scrape, yet there was kindness, there was even a
touch of tenderness, in the master's tone as he answered.
"Perhaps you ought not to have run when you did," said he, "but, as it
is, I'm thankful."
And Shorty could have sworn Othello's swarthy hand was trembling.
Two minutes later the master had taken the names of two of 61's men who
were on the rope when Shorty joined them. Then, bidding him say nothing
of this conversation to any schoolmate until after the Doctor's coming
on the morrow, Halsey bade him hurry home and get a rub-down and dry
clothes. As Shorty turned to the rack for his overcoat a sudden thought
struck the master.
"Where was the letter written--Lawton's letter--that you took to the
Doctor this morning?"
"It didn't say, sir. It was postmarked Bridgeport, but--that don't prove
anything. Somebody else could have put it in for him there."
Jerking the overcoat from its peg and tossing it carelessly over his
arm, something bright came spinning out of the pocket, bounded to the
floor, and rolled in easy circle up in front of the master's table,
where it struck a crack, spun on edge a second, and then settled with a
metallic buzz and bur-r-r, and then lay still and shining opposite the
middle bench. Halsey started and stared, with a gleam in his eyes.
Shorty, surprised, sped after it, stooped and picked it up, then held it
between his thumb and forefinger, gazing at it in astonishment. "Why,
Mr. Halsey," he cried, "it's a ten-dollar gold piece!"
"Yes," said Halsey, "I know. See if there are any more."