The more Seth heard regarding the proposed manœuvres the greater was his eagerness to receive further instruction, and had he been allowed to do as he pleased, the class would have drilled not less than eighteen hours out of every twenty-four.
"Practise as much as you please, Seth, but you are out of my jurisdiction now, for I can't suggest any improvement on your work," Mr. Fernald said, but the praise did not prevent this particular "probationer" from spending nearly every moment of his time at the drill.
Then came the night before the eventful day, and Seth, who was to sleep at headquarters, had come down for a chat with his roommates and the members of Ninety-four's company.
"You can bet we'll be there, Seth," Dan Roberts said emphatically. "If it hadn't been for the show you're goin' to give we'd bought the Third-Avenoo store yesterday; but Bill an' me both allowed it couldn't be done till to-morrow, 'cause we ain't to be cheated out of seein' how much you know 'bout the fire business. We'll be right in the front row, no matter how much the swells crowd for good places."
"Are you goin' to act jest like as if you was a reg'lar fireman?" Bill asked, much as if believing that would be impossible.
"I shall go through the same drill as the others."
"Well, old man, I hope you'll get along all right, an' it seems as if you ought'er after workin' so hard. Look for us when your crowd gets there, an' you can be certain of havin' more cheers than anybody else, for we'll yell ourselves blue in the face but that it shall go in good shape."
"Don't make too much noise," Seth said pleadingly. "You know I'm only a boy, an' there'll be lots of men who can work all 'round me, so it wouldn't be jest the thing for me to be cheered when I'm the poorest of the lot."
"We know our business," Dan said decidedly, "and you needn't worry but that we'll do the thing up brown."
After giving his friends a general outline of the exhibition, as he understood it, Seth went to Ninety-four's house, and was there received with an unusually hearty welcome.