"Why, what's the matter, old man? Ain't gettin' discouraged so soon, are you?"
"I reckon it'll be all right after a spell, an' I wouldn't want any of Ninety-four's men to know that I wasn't jest as chipper as a sparrer; but things are different up there from what they are down here. They jest set you to work an' let you keep hummin' without sayin' a word. I don't believe a single one of 'em has spoke to me since Mr. Davis went away."
"What you been doin'?"
"Cleanin' windows; an' I tell you they're so big that one of 'em makes considerable work. I hung on to it till I'd finished all on that floor, even though they told me to go home at six o'clock."
"What are you goin' to do to-morrow?"
"I don't know. Anythin' that comes up, I s'pose."
"Didn't they give you any lessons in the school?"
"I haven't even seen it yet. There might have been a hundred men 'round there practisin' for all I'd know, 'cause I was in the front of the buildin'."
"Why, I thought you'd go right to work learnin' to be a fireman," Dan said in surprise.
"Mr. Davis never allowed anythin' like that. He said after a spell, when I'd showed 'em I could 'tend to business, I might get a show; but you see, it ain't anyways certain that they'll do what Ninety-four's men have been countin' on. I've got to take the chances, you know, and work my way in."