"But she has a son," suggested the fireman.
"It would be a good deal better for her if she had no son, for he is a good-for-nothing fellow. He won't work to earn any thing, or even take care of the children while his mother is at work. She has to feed him, and it would be a good thing if she had one less mouth to fill."
"He is a bad boy, and runs with Tom Topover, which is enough to condemn any boy," added the fireman.
Ash Burton and his companions winced under this remark, and they were glad they had gone so far as to resolve to avoid him in the future.
"My husband would give the boy work all summer, and pay him all he could earn; but he will not do a thing, and he is worrying the life out of his mother," continued the farmer's wife. "I think something ought to be done with him; and it would be a good thing if he could be sent to the house of correction, or some other institution, where he could be made to work."
The foreman of the engine quite agreed with her, and promised to inquire into the matter on his return to the town. The march, for it was not a run on the return, was resumed with the machine, which soon reached its destination. Several persons who kept horses had ridden out to see where the fire was, and the report of what had happened was already in circulation through the place.
It was not more than four o'clock, and the reformed Topovers—as they regarded themselves—were not inclined to go home until they had done something about the cruise of the Goldwing. As they came out of the engine-house, they saw Captain Gildrock in his buggy. He had stopped in the street, and was talking to a fireman who had just left the engine.
The reformers halted, and decided to hail the principal as soon as he finished his conversation with the man. The latter seemed to be talking to him very earnestly, and pointed down the street. Suddenly the captain turned his horse in the direction the man had pointed, and drove off so rapidly that the boys could not hail him. He turned the next corner, and the boys followed him.
They had gone to another corner when they saw the captain's team standing at the door of a mechanic's shop. He had left the vehicle, and secured the horse by a weight. Sam suggested that he was getting out a warrant for the arrest of those who had stolen the sloop; but Ash was confident that no magistrate lived on that street, which was occupied mainly by mechanics' shops and small factories.
"I don't want to miss him next time," said Ash. "I should like to have this business settled, or at least to know what is going to be done about it, before I go home. Captain Gildrock goes off like a rifle-shot when he starts, and seems to be thinking of something all the time."