Then Seth repeated what had been said by the repentant boy, and gave a detailed account of the interview with Sam Barney, all of which appeared wonderfully amusing, not only to 'Lish Davis, but to all the men on the floor.
"And are you allowing to adopt this 'ere kid who is setting himself up as a firebug?" the driver asked when Seth had concluded the story.
"I'd like to give him one more show, for I don't believe he'll go wrong again, an' if we can get Sam Barney so far away that he can't come back, it may be done."
"But what about us? We're bound to give up all such information as we may happen to run across, and it's a serious matter to keep a close tongue on anything of that kind."
"Have you got to get Jip arrested?" Seth asked in alarm.
"It's our duty, and I ain't so certain that he's reformed."
"But you never can know till he's been given a chance, an' it would be mighty tough if he had to have it put down against him when he grows up, that he's been in jail."
"I grant you all that, Amateur, yet the law says man or boy must pay the penalty for arson, and it wouldn't be fair to make an exception in his case."
"What do you mean by arson?"
"That's the name given to the crime of setting fires, and when the trick is played in the night, in a building where people are living, it costs the criminal a good many years of his life."