as effective on the fire. It ought to be thrown like a solid rod of water.
I can't get the boys to realize that the slightest bruise, dent, or burr
throws the stream in a ragged feathery foam. The result of that is that a
lot of water is dissipated and lost."

Keith, who had taken hold of the nozzle rather negligently, returned it
with the reverent care due crown jewels.

"How long a stream will it throw?" he asked.

"With thirty men on a side she's done a hundred and twelve feet high, and
two hundred and eighteen for distance," said Bert with simple pride.

He picked up the nozzle again.

"See here. Here's an invention of my own. Cost money to put it in, too,
because every other nozzle on earth is made wrong."

He explained that other nozzles are made so that the thread of the hose
screwed into the nozzle; while in his, the thread of the nozzle screwed
into the hose.

"If there's a leak or a bad connection," explained Bert, "with the old
type, the water is blown back into the fireman's face, and he is blinded.
His whole efficiency depends on a close joint. But with my scheme the leak
is blown forward, away from the lineman. It's a perfectly sound scheme, but
I can't make them see it."

"Sounds reasonable," observed Keith, examining perfunctorily a device to
which later he was to owe his life.