"Yes, it was big detective work to walk over to Thirty-fourth Street Ferry an' find him."
"I snaked him right out er a house where he was hidin'."
"Then Denny Macey was the one who gave Jip away, an' I'll have a settlement with that chump some day!" Dan cried angrily.
Now for the first time Seth took part in the conversation, by saying curtly to Sam:
"You've got Jip in jail, an' think it's goin' to be a big thing to brag about; but I don't believe you'll make any great shakes out of it. Come on, Dan, we don't want to hang 'round here any longer."
"You're feelin' mighty fine, Seth Bartlett, jest 'cause you're given the chance to loaf 'round the Fire Department headquarters an' sweep the floors!" Sam cried angrily. "I s'pose you think you're pretty nigh the only feller in this town?"
"Come ahead, Dan," and Seth would have passed on but that the would-be detective barred his way.
"I don't want any talk with you, Sam Barney, an' what's more I won't have any."
"Won't, eh? Suppose I slap your face, how'll it be then?"
Instinctively Seth put himself in a posture of defence, and instantly afterward realized that he must not be accused of making a disturbance on the street lest it work to his harm in the Department.