“Hi! shut that gate again, you fools!” shouted the owner of the premises, who, in his excitement, was running back and forth, starting to do one thing and then changing to another. “D’ye want to let all my valuable pigs break away?”
“Here come the firemen on the run!” a voice was heard to call out, one of the boys perched on top of the high fence being the alert scout to convey the news.
Cliffwood firemen had made a good reputation for themselves in times past. It was a volunteer department, but they owned a good engine, as well as a hose cart and a ladder truck.
Galloping horses brought them quickly to the scene of the fire. When they learned whose barn was in danger of being burned down, some of the members of the department may have felt loath to work as hard as usual, for they detested Mr. Bratton.
The foreman, however, who was the town blacksmith, would not allow any shirking on the part of his followers. So the hose was run out, the engine started up, and it was not long before a stream of water began to fall upon the smouldering hay that had been the main cause of the smoke.
Meanwhile, as seems necessary at all fires in country towns, some of the men began to chop at the sides of the barn, and smash in the windows—“to let the smoke out, and give the men who handled the hose nozzle a chance to play on the seat of the fire,” it was explained. Many who witnessed these energetic labors, however, could give a good guess that there were other things back of the professional instinct.
While all this was going on, more and more of the grunting and squealing pigs managed to get away, despite the apparent frenzied efforts of the fire fighters to prevent their egress. They were darting this way and that in every direction. Some ran between the legs of the spectators, and girls screamed in real or imaginary terror as the agile and alarmed little pigs appeared in their midst.
As the fire was already diminishing in vigor, and gave promise of proving a disappointment so far as spectacular effect went, the boys seemed bent on finding some outlet for their activities in chasing wildly after the noisy little beasts, that usually eluded capture in a remarkable way.
Many were the loud shrieks of laughter that arose when some one plunged forward with outstretched hands, only to clutch thin air as the active pig suddenly doubled, and eluded his grasp.
Dan had taken after an old sow that was giving vent to loud and ominous grunts while running in a zigzag manner among the crowds. He must have tripped at a critical second, for suddenly Dan was seen astraddle of the broad-backed animal, trying to keep from tumbling, and evidently much surprised at finding himself having a ride.