"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?"