"Dave!"
"Here I am, Dick."
"Here's the hose. I'll pass the nozzle in and then turn the water on."
"Bully for you, Handy Andy!"
Sizz-zz! Dave directed the stream against the liveliest flames. It was only a lawn-sprinkling hose that he held, but even that threw a lot of water.
Dick climbed in through the window again.
"We'll hold things down until the firemen get here," he announced energetically.
So busy had all been that only two or three out of the ten boys present had noticed that the fire-alarm whistle had called off the box number some time previously.
Finally, with a screeching of whistles and a clanging of gongs, a part of the Gridley Fire Department hauled up outside.
While hosemen fastened a line to a hydrant, and nozzlemen dragged the lengths in through the wide-open front door, the chief ran ahead of them.