SOMETHING NEW


What with the clanging of the gongs on the engines and on the red
runabouts that brought two battalion chiefs to the fire; the pall of
smoke, with, here and there, the suggestion of a red blaze; the swaying
excitement of the crowd; the yells of harassed policemen; the scene at
the blaze of the dime museum was one long to be remembered by Joe Strong
and Helen Morton--particularly in the light of what happened afterward.

"Joe, did you hear what he said?" asked Helen, as she moved back with
the young acrobat in conformity with the officer's order.

"You mean that we've got to slide?"

"No, that a fire-eater started the blaze. Does he mean a professional
'fire bug,' as I have heard them called?"

"Oh, not at all!" exclaimed Joe. "A fire-eater is a chap who does such
stunts in a museum, theater, or even in a circus. Sampson Brothers used
to have one, I understand, from looking over the old books. But it
wasn't much of an act. Golly, this is going to be some blaze!"

That was very evident from the increased smoke that rolled out and the
crackle of fire that now could be heard above the puffing of the engines
and the shouts of the mob.

"A regular tinder box!" muttered the officer who had told Joe the origin
of the blaze. "Place ought to have been pulled down long ago. Git back