At that instant the click caused by the opening of the electric circuit in the alarm was heard, followed by the striking of the joker.
The weight fell—the lever flew up—the horses were released, and before Seth could have spoken, even if he had had anything to say, the animals were under the swinging harness, while every man stood at his station.
"Get on, Amateur; get on alongside the engineer. This may be the last time you'll run with Ninety-four for quite a spell, and I'm minded to give you the advantage of it," the captain cried as 'Lish Davis sprang to his seat, snapped into place the catch on his belt, and released the harness.
Almost before the last word was spoken Seth had leaped to the side of the engineer, and never a boy in New York City was more proud than he, when the ponderous engine, drawn by the plunging horses, left the building with a rattle and roar which could have been heard blocks away.
In a uniform hardly to be distinguished from the members of the company the Amateur was riding to his first fire in what seemed to him like an official capacity.
One portion of his dream was being realized, and he said to himself as he clung to the rail, swung to and fro by the swaying of the ponderous machine, that when the time came for him to be regularly enrolled in the Department he would use every effort toward being assigned to Ninety-four.
"You are our mascot, Amateur," Jerry Walters, who stood next to Seth, shouted at the full strength of his lungs in order that the words might be heard above the clanging of the gong and rattle of wheels, "and if you're to bring us good luck we shall get first water to-night."
THE FIRE-ENGINE GOING OUT. Page 152.