CHAPTER III “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.

[17]

“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[18] 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.

[19]

“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,[20] 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.

[21]

“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[22] 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[23] 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.