Activity and excitement around the Fairbanks home did not die down until long after dark. All the afternoon and evening people came to the house to see Fogg, to offer sympathy and practical assistance. If the fireman needed encouragement, he got plenty of it. He seemed to have grown into a new man under the chastening, and yet hopeful influences of that eventful day in his life. Before his very eyes Ralph fancied he saw his fireman grow in new manliness, courage and earnestness of purpose. All hands were tired enough to sleep soundly that night. When Ralph came down stairs in the morning, his mother told him that Fogg was up and about already. She believed he had gone up to the ruins to look over things in a general way. Ralph went out to hunt up the stroller for breakfast. Scarcely started from the house, he halted abruptly, for the object of his quest was in view. Ralph saw the fireman about half a block away. He was facing two men whom Ralph recognized as Hall and Wilson, two blacklisters who had been prominent in the railroad strike. One of them was gesticulating vigorously and telling something to Fogg, while his companion chipped in a word now and then. Suddenly something appeared to be said that roused up the fireman. His hand went up in the air with an angry menacing motion. He shouted out some words that Ralph could not hear at the distance he was from the scene. The two men seemed to remonstrate. One of them raised his own fist menacingly. The other crowded towards Fogg in a stealthy, suspicious way. In a flash the climax came. Swinging out his giant hand, the fireman of No. 999 seized his nearest opponent and gave him a fling into the ditch. He then sprang at the other, and sent him whirling head over heels to join his companion. CHAPTER XIII THE "BLACK HAND" Lemuel Fogg's opponents scrambled to their feet and sneaked off immediately. The fireman turned his back upon them, and strode down the sidewalk in the direction of the Fairbanks' home with a stormy and disturbed expression on his face. "Trouble, Mr. Fogg?" intimated the young railroader, as the fireman approached him. "No," dissented Fogg vigorously, "the end of trouble. I'm sorry to lose my temper, lad, but those ruffians were the limit. They know my sentiments now." "They were Hall and Wilson, I noticed," suggested Ralph. "Yes," returned the fireman, "and two worse unhung rascals never walked. They came about you. Say, Mr. Fairbanks," continued Fogg excitedly, "It wasn't so bad tackling me as a sort of comrade, considering that I had been foolish enough to train with them once, but when they mentioned you--I went wild. You--after what you've done for me and mine! Say----" "Hold on--close the brakes," ordered Ralph, as his companion seemed inclined to run after his recent adversaries and seek them out for a further castigation. "You've made the brake with them--forget them."