to discuss how to get the engine back, and finally decided to get
their chums, make a trip for it, and haul it back in triumph that
afternoon.

A hand fire engine, as probably many of my young readers know, is just
what the name implies. In the days before steam engines were invented,
one manner of putting out fires was by hand engines.

The hand engines of those days, and the one which the Lakeville boys
had purchased, was nothing more or less than a big tank on wheels,
with a pump to force the water from the tank through a hose. The water
was poured into the tank by pails, so that a sort of bucket brigade
was really necessary. Then there was needed many pairs of strong arms
to work the pump handles, or "brakes," as they were sometimes called.

These handles were quite long, and usually there were two of them,
arranged something like those on a hand-car, used by construction
gangs on a railroad. There was thus room enough for several men or
boys to take hold of the poles on either side of the engine.

Sometimes those working the handles stood on the ground, or, in case
of a large engine, like the one the boys had purchased, on top of the
water tank. The water was poured into the tank at one end and forced
out at the opposite end, through the hose. On some engines there were
two lines of hose, and very powerful pumps, but, of course, the
efficiency of the engine depended on the amount of water it could
throw, and this, in turn, depended on how fast the bucket brigade
could fill the tank.

When the tank was full and sturdy arms were working the long handles