"Yes, that I know, else I wouldn't be standing on my feet this minute; but suppose you had missed your hold? He would have had you under his feet in a jiffy."
"But he didn't, so I can't see as that counts very much; but all the same, I was willin' to take the chances."
'Lish Davis, having assured himself that he had spoken correctly so far as personal injuries were concerned, took charge of the horse; the engineer went back to his post, and Seth, fearing lest he should be driven outside the line, was making his way toward the building once more with Dan by his side when the driver shouted:
"Come back here, you young rattle-brain! How did you get inside the lines?"
"Crept under the rope when the copper wasn't lookin'. It ain't any very hard job to do that."
"Don't you know you're liable to be arrested for doing anything of that sort?"
"Well, we had to take the chances, you see, 'cause it wouldn't do to miss a fire like this," Seth replied, half apologetically, and Dan cried in his shrill tone:
"It's mighty lucky for you, Mr. Davis, that he did sneak inside this once."
"I ain't likely to forget that, you rapscallion; but it has got nothing to do with you lads being where you don't belong, and that's right about here."
"Please don't send us away!" Seth cried imploringly. "We'll keep out of sight so the chief won't see us, an' nobody will know where we are."