Late in the afternoon, a steam-tug from the city, which had been telegraphed for from Boontown, arrived, with a fire-engine on board, and the fire on the Thomas Wistar was soon extinguished.
Long before this event occurred, however, three very hungry boys went up to Hyson Hall to dinner.
CHAPTER XVII.
IN WHICH A COUNCIL IS HELD.
The next morning, when Chap Webster came over to Hyson Hall, he brought his sister Helen with him. Phœnix Poole was already there, for he was determined to make the best of the period of slack work on his father’s farm, and he arrived very early in the day.
“Mother sent me,” said Helen to Philip, “to see if you are getting on comfortably here, and if you needed anything we could do for you. She would have come herself, but she could not do so to-day because she had things to attend to which she could not very well leave.”
Mrs. Webster was a good lady, who never went away from her home except on Sunday, because she always had things to attend to which she could not very well leave.
“Mother thinks that men can’t get along in a house by themselves,” said Chap. “I don’t agree with her; but, if you want anything done in the way of buttons, or casting a general eye over dusty corners, Helen is just as good as she is.”
“Oh, I don’t need anything of that kind!” said Phil, laughing. “Susan attends to me first-rate. But it’s comfortable to have neighbors like your mother, who are kind enough to send to see how a fellow is getting along.”
“Another thing mother wants to know,” said Helen, “and that is if you really do want Chap to come and stay with you. He has been going on at a great rate, trying to make us think that something like a band of Indians was coming to attack the house, and that he ought to stay here to help you keep them from climbing in at the doors and windows.”