A FIRE AND A DISCOVERY.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!”
Loud shouts of this dreadful alarm, mingled with the ringing of bells,
the tooting of whistles and the hurrying of many feet awoke Jerry
late one night, three days after the encounter in the road with the
countryman and his skittish horse.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” yelled men and boys hastening down the street.
“Where’s the blaze?” asked Jerry, throwing open his window and calling
down to those running past.
“Judson’s mill!” was the cry. “Looks like a big fire!”
Jerry looked in the direction of the mill, and saw a glare in the sky.
“I’m going!” he exclaimed.
“Oh Jerry, you might get hurt,” objected Mrs. Hopkins.
“I’ll be careful, mother,” replied the boy, rapidly dressing.
On his way to the blaze he met Ned, who had also been awakened from his
sleep by the alarm. The two boys hurried toward the mill, to which point
it seemed as if every one in Cresville was hastening. The glare in the
sky grew brighter.
“Here comes one of the engines!” cried Ned, as the apparatus dashed
past. It was one of two new steamers recently purchased.
“Hurry up, and let’s see it work!” called Jerry, and the boys increased
their run.
“How’d the mill catch fire?” panted Ned.
“I--didn’t--hear,” answered Jerry, breathing hard.
In a little while they were at the scene of the blaze. One of the
smaller buildings of the mill was burning furiously. Smoke, flames and
sparks were spouting from the roof, which was almost consumed.
Up dashed the engines. Connections were quickly made to hydrants, and
soon two good sized streams were playing on the flames. The puffing of
the steamers, the snapping and crackle of the flames, the shouts of
those looking on, the yells of the firemen and the crash as pieces of
the burning building fell in, made a din that was chaotic.
“Stand back boys!” exclaimed one of the firemen. “We want to run a hose
in that gate.”
The boys made room and were now joined by Bob.
“Can we go in?” asked Jerry. “We’ll keep well back.”
The gate in front of which they stood gave access to the mill yard, at a
point quite a distance from the fire.
“I guess it won’t do any harm,” answered the fireman who was a good
natured man. “But keep well back in case the walls fall. We don’t want
any one to get hurt.”
“We’ll be careful,” promised Jerry, and the boys followed the
fire-fighter within the gate, helping him drag the hose, which was
twisting and turning like a snake trying to get loose, so strong was
the water pressure.
At last the fury of the fire seemed to have spent itself. The flames
died down and all that remained to do was to wet down the ruins
thoroughly to prevent any sparks from flying to other departments of the
mill. The blaze had been confined to the building where it started, and,
in spite of the excitement over it, the damage had been small.
“I’m glad it didn’t get into my office,” remarked Mr. Judson, the mill
owner, who had arrived on the scene soon after the fire started. “All
my valuable books and papers would have been destroyed.”
“Yes, you got off pretty lucky,” said the chief.
“Thanks to the hard work you and your men did,” Mr. Judson replied. “I
won’t forget it, I assure you.”
“We only did our duty,” responded the chief modestly. “It’s our business
to put out fires.”
There was not much more of interest to see, and the three boys, as did a
number of others, began to think of going home.
Ned, Jerry and Bob started from the mill yard. As they passed a pile of
lumber near the gate Ned gave one of the boards a careless kick. There
was a rattling sound and a small round object rolled out at his feet.
“What’s that?” asked Jerry.
“Look’s like a tin can,” observed Bob.
Ned picked it up to examine it better, for it was now quite dark, the
fire giving only a faint glow.
“Look at this!” Ned cried, holding out the object.
“It’s a burglar’s dark lantern!” exclaimed Bob. “I saw one just like it
that the police took from a thief. It is over to police headquarters.”
“Wonder who put it there?” asked Jerry.
“It’s hard to--” began Ned, and then he stopped. Dropping to his knees
he reached his hand into the hole from whence the dark lantern had
rolled. He groped around a few seconds and then drew out his hand.
“I’ve found ’em,” he said.
“What?” asked Jerry.
“The things I was looking for,” and Ned held up to view in the faint
gleam from the burned building a cold chisel and a hammer.
“What are they for?” asked Bob, not seeing the connection of the dark
lantern and the tools just found.
“These are the things the mill safe was robbed with,” replied Ned. “The
lantern made the light that puzzled me that night I came past, and with
this cold chisel and hammer the lock was cut out. The thief must have
hidden the things under the boards as he ran away with the money. It was
on his route as he passed out of the gate.”
“This mill robbery seems to follow us,” observed Jerry. “Every once in a
while something about it crops out.”
“Yes,” commented Ned. “I saw the robbery being committed, or rather I
was there while it was being done, we learned about the queer bank bill
and Noddy’s connection with it, and now we have discovered the tools
that were used.”
“All we need to do next is to recover the money,” said Bob.
“And find the thief,” said Ned.
“I fancy that won’t be difficult to do,” added Bob. “If Noddy--”
“Hush!” exclaimed Ned, “some one is coming! Let’s get out of here!”
Hurriedly Ned hid under his coat the lantern, the hammer and chisel, and
the three boys passed out of the mill yard.
“What are you chaps doin’ here?” demanded a rough voice, and Bill Berry
shuffled up, looking sharply at first one and then another.
“We were watching the fire,” replied Ned politely. “Any objections, Mr.
Berry?”
“You boys better keep away from here,” growled Bill. “I reckon Mr.
Judson don’t want another robbery.”
“What do you mean?” demanded Jerry. “Do you mean that we robbed the
mill?”
“Well you might and then agin you mightn’t,” mumbled Bill. “I ain’t
sayin’ as how you did, and I ain’t sayin’ as how you didn’t. You’d
better move on.”
“We’ve as much right here as you have, Bill Berry,” said Bob. “We’re
ready to go and we’re going; all you may say wouldn’t move us, as long
as Mr. Judson didn’t object to our being here.”
“That’ll do for you,” muttered Bill, as he shuffled away.
“Did you catch the horse and win the five dollars?” inquired Jerry,
referring to the countryman’s fractious steed that ran away.
Bill’s only answer was a growl.
“Come on, let’s get home and go to bed,” suggested Bob.
“Take good care of those tools,” warned Jerry. Ned promised to do so;
and there the talk came to an end.