“What for?” said Rollo; “they are not near the fire.”
“I suppose there is a reservoir near here,” said Jonas, “and they are driving the water from it along towards some engine that is near the fire.”
“How does the water go?” said Rollo.
“In a hose,” said Jonas.
“What is a hose?” asked Rollo.
“It is a long leather pipe or tube. Come out this way, and we shall find it, I suppose, lying along the street.”
So the boys pushed their way along beyond the engine, and presently the fire itself burst upon their view in all its glory. It was a store,—one of the stores of a block which extended along the whole street. The front was of brick, and the walls between the different stores of the block were also of brick, so that nothing but the inside and the roof could burn. But the whole interior of the building was on fire, the flames issuing from the windows, and rising in a great, bright, roaring pyramid above the roof, far up into the dark sky. The whole street, except exactly opposite to the fire, where it was too hot for persons to stand, was filled with men whose faces, which were all turned towards the fire, were so brightly illuminated by the light, that Rollo could see them more distinctly than if it had been day. From the midst of a dense crowd just beyond the fire, Rollo saw a slender white thread of water mounting up in a beautiful curve, and falling over upon the flames. It was the jet from an engine; but it seemed to produce no effect upon the flame whatever.
“There is the hose,” said Jonas, suddenly.
Rollo turned away from the fire to look at the hose which Jonas pointed out to him, lying upon the pavement. There were a great many persons coming and going, so that he could not see very well; but he perceived a long pipe of leather lying along the street, in a serpentine direction, and swelled out with the water which the engine was driving through it, as if it was just ready to burst.
“It looks like a snake,” said Rollo.