"Are you countin' on their lettin' us hang 'round the engine-house?"
"Course not. The firemen can't do anythin' like that, you know. We was mighty lucky to get a bed there last night, an' wouldn't had it except that we'd been burned out."
"Then what are you goin' up this way for?"
"There's jest as much chance 'round here as anywhere, an' of course I'd sooner live near Ninety-four, 'cause I do a good deal of shinin' for the men. Then ag'in, I don't want to lose run of 'em, for perhaps some day 'Lish Davis'll give me a lift into the Department."
"There's no use lookin' here, 'cause we'd known if there was any place that would suit us."
"I ain't so sure of that. You see, we wasn't lookin' for one, an' now if we go along with our eyes open there's no tellin' but what we may run——"
Seth ceased speaking very suddenly, for at that instant the clanging of gongs could be heard far up the street, and Dan exclaimed:
"That sounds like Ninety-four."
"Course it is. I'd know her if she was in the middle of a hundred, an' all of 'em comin' straight for me."
There was no longer a thought in the mind of either of the boys regarding the necessity of finding a home that night.