The Third Alarm: A Story of the New York Fire DepartmentFord, James L. (James Lauren)
General
The Third Alarm: A Story of the New York Fire Department
Ford, James L. (James Lauren)
Fire fighters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Juvenile fiction; New York (N.Y.). Fire Department -- Juvenile fiction
As soon as the train had left Oswego, Skinny took from his pocket the
written instructions that Mr. Korwein had given him and devoted a
quarter of an hour to a close study of it. Then he put it back in his
pocket, consulted a time table of the road and found that there was a
station next to Rocky Point and not more than three miles distant from
it. At this station the boy determined to alight and perform the
remainder of his journey on foot. It would look suspicious, he thought,
for a boy of his size and raggedness to arrive in a village by any such
luxurious mode of travel as a railroad train. He felt that he would be
expected to go at once from the depot to the best hotel in the town and
if he started out in quest of a job he would instantly be looked upon by
the authorities as a suspicious character. It would be more in keeping
with his appearance as well as his purpose to arrive on foot by way of
the high road.
Therefore he left the train at the station next the one he was
journeying to, and started to finish the distance on foot. It was a cool
autumn morning with just enough warmth in the sun’s rays to make walking
enjoyable. The road which he took afforded him a view of Lake Ontario,
as it ran parallel with the shore of that great inland sea. Skinny
thought it was salt water; in fact he thought all large bodies of water
were salt, and although he soon found himself very thirsty it never
occurred to him to go down to the beach which in some places was within
fifty yards of the road and take a drink. So he trudged patiently along,
hoping to find some well or spring, and while he was walking and
whistling he was surprised to see lying by the roadside a new red shawl
which had evidently been dropped from some passing vehicle. He picked it
up instantly for it was his habit to pick up whatever he could find in
his way. It was a good shawl of a bright pattern and apparently had not
been worn much. Skinny examined it carefully, wondering what use he
could make of it. Then he shook his head doubtfully, tucked the shawl
under his arm and trudged on as before. He had not gone far before he
saw a carriage approaching, and as it drew near he noticed that it was
driven by a lady who looked anxiously about her on both sides of the
road while she urged her horse rapidly forward. Skinny, who at this
moment was enjoying a short rest on a big stone under an oak tree,
remarked the lady’s appearance and said to himself “Dat must be de one
dat lost de shawl.”
His first impulse was to conceal it behind the stone upon which he sat,
but another idea—one that was more honest and more politic as well—came
into his head, and as she was about to drive past him he started up from
his seat and called to her, at the same time displaying the red garment
in his hand. The lady stopped her horse suddenly and Skinny stepped over
to the carriage and said “I found dat shawl up de road, but I guess it’s
yours.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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