"What do you do first--squirt water on it?"

"No, we ain't got no squirts that'll reach. Best
way to handle the piles o' lumber is to start a line
of bucket-men from the lake and cover the piles with
anything you can catch up--blankets, old carpets,
quilts; keep 'em soaked and ye kin fight it for a
while; that's when one pile's afire, and ye're tryin'
to save the pile next t'it. Light stuff is all over in half
an hour--no matter how big the pile is--keep the
rags soaked--that's my way."

That night before the blazing coals Muggles broke
out on some theories of putting out a conflagration
that made Bender sit up straight and little Billy
Salters cup his ears in attention. Monteith also
craned his neck to listen.

"Who the devil taught you that, Mixey?" asked
Bender. "You talk as if you were Chief of the
Big Six."

"Why, any fireman knows that. I've been running
with a machine for years." The calm way with
which Muggles said this, shaking the ashes from his
cigar as he spoke, showed a certain self-reliance.
"Out in our village I'm foreman of the Hose
Company."