"I see you're still blackin' boots."
"Why shouldn't I be? It was the bargain that I could do it till I got into the Department."
"I'm allowing 'Lish will claim you're so near there now that you must graduate from this kind of work."
"But, of course, I'm not near gettin' into the Department, for they don't make firemen of boys."
"As a rule they don't; but I'm reckoning there'll be something in the way of an exception with you. I'm not allowin' you'll be allowed to swell around as full member of a company, but you are bound to be recognized as belonging to us."
Seth failed to understand how any immediate change could be effected in his standing, save that he might be admitted to the classes at headquarters, and before he could ask Joe Black to make an explanation a shrill voice was heard calling through the half-opened door:
"Say, Mister, is Seth Bartlett here?"
It was Dan, and Seth stepped forward to prevent him from coming in, when Joe Black said:
"There's no reason why you should go out on the sidewalk to talk with your friends. You've got the same privileges here that all hands have."
By this time Dan had stepped inside, and catching a glimpse of Seth he cried: