"Yes," said I, "it's time. They've poured water enough into that house to float the Ark, and all the best of the fire is over."
As we left the scene of our labors, I observed that my Sunday coat, besides being drenched, was split open across the back.
"Phaeton," said I, "you forgot to throw off my coat when you went to work with the axe, didn't you?"
"That's so," said he. "The fact is, I suppose I must have been a little excited."
"I've no doubt you were," said I. "Putting out fires and saving property is very exciting work."
CHAPTER XVI.
A NEW FIRE-EXTINGUISHER.
It was not yet morning, and my rope-ladder was still hanging out when Phaeton and I reached the house. We climbed up, and as soon as he could tie up his wet clothes in a bundle, he went down again and ran home.
When our family were assembled at the breakfast-table, I had to go through those disagreeable explanations which every boy encounters before he arrives at the age when he can do what he pleases without giving a reason for it. At such a time, it seems to a boy as if those who ought to sympathize with him, had set themselves up as determined antagonists, bringing out by questions and comments the most unfavorable phase of everything that has happened, and making him feel that, instead of a misfortune to be pitied, it was a crime to be punished. Looking at it from the boy's side, it is, perhaps, wisest to consider this as a necessary part of man-making discipline; but, from the family's side, it should appear, as it is, a cowardly proceeding.