"It's a little late for anything of that kind now, my boy, seeing that the clock has just struck ten. What's all this talk I hear of your showing the members of the Department how to effect a rescue?"
"It wasn't me, sir. I only got the baby out of the window, an' somebody else must have taken him from there."
"It was Jerry Walters who came up the ladder," 'Lish Davis interrupted.
"The credit of saving the child belongs to you, Seth," Mr. Fernald said, decidedly, "and I hope there'll be no question about its being given. Tell us how it was done."
"There isn't much to tell, sir. I jest heard the baby yellin', an' went in after it. Then the smoke made me feel silly, an' I had to keep sayin' to myself what I heard you tellin' the class, about a clear head bein' the next best thing to a ladder, else I'd gone under before I found the rope."
"Now there's the kind of a pupil to have!" Mr. Fernald cried proudly. "There's some satisfaction in knowing that what a man says will be remembered when the time comes that it may be of profit. You shall go regularly into the class from this out, Seth Bartlett, whether the commissioners approve or not, and we'll find some one else to do the odd jobs."
"Do you really think I stand a better chance of gettin' into the Department because of tryin' to pull the kid through?" Seth asked in surprise, and Josh Fernald replied to the great delight of both the boy and Mr. Davis:
"If I can bring any influence to bear, you shall be there very soon, my lad, and at all events, from this time out you will be kept at work on the drill. Ninety-four's kid is of considerably more importance to-night than he was this morning."
After such praise as this it seemed impossible for Seth to remain in bed, and finally 'Lish Davis consented to his going down-stairs for a time.
The hour which Seth spent on the lower floor on this night was the most pleasant he had ever known.