At this moment an alarm of fire was sounded, and in a few minutes the
street in front of the hotel was alive with people hurrying to the scene
of the conflagration. Men and boys were running at the top of their
speed, and shouting at the top of their voices; women were gazing from
doors and windows, and the merry jingle of the bells of the fire-engines
were soon heard, as the brave fire laddies were rushing to the rescue of
the burning building.

"The very thing!" ejaculated the chief. "I must go to the fire, and do
you come along with me. Tom Nelson is one of the most active firemen of
the city, and I will point him out to you. After that you must work your
own way, for if I was to approach him upon the subject, he would become
suspicious at once."

So saying the chief hurried out of the hotel, closely followed by the
detective. Turning a corner they saw, not a great distance off, the
flames leaping from the windows and roof of a large frame structure,
which was blazing and crackling like a huge pile of kindling prepared
for the torch. Already the department was upon the ground, and when the
chief and the detective reached the scene, several streams of water,
shimmering like ropes of silver, were pouring into the burning building.
With a noble self-sacrifice and a disregard for their own safety which
was truly admirable, the brave fire laddies battled with the flames, and
exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent the fire from reaching the
adjoining buildings. At last, yielding to the almost superhuman efforts
of the firemen, the fire was extinguished, leaving only the bare and
blackened walls standing as monuments of the destruction that had been
wrought. Foremost among the brave fellows who were performing their
self-appointed and herculean duty was a man about thirty-five years of