beneath me!"

"Rowdies! Those loafers who hang about the companies, attracted by the
excitement and the noise, do not belong to the department."

"You know the old adage, Hal,--'People are known by the company they
keep,' that is, 'birds of a feather flock together.'"

"Why, May, this is too bad! They are the noblest fellows in the world."

"Noble! I have lived too long in Philadelphia not to know something
about firemen. They used to frighten me almost out of my senses. Once we
thought they would set fire to the whole city, murder the people and
drink their blood! O, such a savage set you never saw!"

Hal laughed outright.

"Shoot the men, strangle the women, and swallow the children alive!" he
echoed, mockingly.

"It is no subject for jesting, Mr. Hal Delancey. Philadelphia is not the
only place. Take up the papers any morning, and what will you find under
the Williamsburgh head? Accounts of riots, street-battles, and
plunderings, in all of which the firemen have had a conspicuous part,
and New York is not much better."

"Well, May, you do make out the firemen to be a miserable set, most
assuredly. Now, if I had not already committed myself," continued Hal,
jestingly, "almost you would persuade me to denounce this gang of
rowdies, murderers and robbers; but the Rubicon is passed!"