Sure enough, there was Alec and his detachment waiting for them at the pre-arranged rendezvous. When the two sections sighted one another there was more or less calling back and forth, and cheering.
Apparently Alec’s crowd could not have had anything like the serious time that came the way of Hugh and his chums. This was to be seen in the fact that their uniforms, unlike the others, did not bear signs of hard usage, with holes burned here and there, besides being pretty well water soaked.
Of course both sides were wild to hear what had been accomplished by the other detachment.
“Who’s going to take the floor first and spin the yarn?” demanded Billy Worth, who was really anxious to know just how far Alec’s supporters had gone in the way of fire-fighting.
Alec and Hugh exchanged looks, and smiled.
“I reckon we’ll have to toss up for it, then, seeing that each wants to be last,” remarked the Sands boy, taking out a coin.
“That suits us,” said Billy; “and Hugh can say whether it’s heads or tails.”
“Whichever falls upward means the last to tell the story, doesn’t it?” asked Hugh.
“Yes, and you call out while the quarter is in the air,” Alec told him.
So he sent it whirling upward, and about the time it reached its highest point Hugh sang out: