"Turn on the water!"
"Turn on the water!" echoed the chief. The hose, that was almost like a big snake trying to climb up the side of the house of the six little Bunkers, straightened out and twisted as the water filled it, being pumped in by one of the engines.
Captain Ben directed the stream down the blazing chimney. There were puffs of steam, the white clouds of which mingled with the black smoke of the chimney, and the water poured down into the kitchen, spurting out of the range where the fire had been built. The water put out the fire in the stove, as well as the fire in the chimney, and made muddy puddles on Norah's kitchen floor. But this could not be helped. It was better to have a little water in the house than a lot of fire.
"How are you making out?" the chief called up to Captain Ben on the roof.
"Fine!" was the answer. "The fire is almost out!"
And it was all out a minute or two later. Then the water was shut off, so that the house would not be flooded, and Captain Ben dropped the hose from the roof down to the ground.
"Is he going to jump down, Mother?" asked Vi, who, with the others of the family, stood in the side yard, where they could all get a view of the roof on which stood Captain Ben.
"No, indeed, he will not jump down!" said Mrs. Bunker.
"I guess he'll climb down the same way he went up—like a monkey," said Laddie. "He's a good climber. Some day I'm going to climb up to the roof like Captain Ben did. But who is he, Mother? Is he what Uncle Fred is to us?"
"Not exactly," was the answer. "I'll tell you about Captain Ben a little later when there isn't so much excitement. He is coming down now, and I must thank him for what he did."