This pump was the pride of Cole's heart. He had made it out of parts of several old pumps, and, to give him credit, it did throw quite a stream, when the handle was vigorously worked. The boys admired it to his entire satisfaction, and even admitted that it would be of good service if ever Cole's house caught fire. "Now, let's talk business," Bert proposed. "Cole, do you know about how much the authorities at Jamesville would want for their old engine?" "I haven't the least idea, but I should think they'd sell it cheap." "Do you know whether they will sell it?" asked Tom. "No, not for sure, but I should think they would." "We can't go by that," declared Bert. "We've got to find out for sure." "I move that Bert and Cole be a committee to go over to Jamesville, and see if they can buy the engine," sang out Vincent. "That'll start things going." "Why, we haven't got our fire department yet," objected Charlie Rupert. "What's the good of a department if you haven't got an engine?" replied Tom Donnell. "I'm in favor of that motion." "So am I!" cried a number of the boys. "We haven't regularly organized," said Bert, who was rather pleased at the enthusiasm of his chums, "but I'll be willing to go over to Jamesville and see what we can do. Cole can look at the pumps, and see if they will work well." "Yes, they can't fool me on pumps," declared the owner of the improved forcing apparatus on the family cistern. Thus it was decided, though there was enough more talk about it to fill several books the size of this one. Bert and Cole promised to go over to Jamesville the next day, and report back to their chums, in Cole's barn, the following night. Jamesville was a village about five miles from Lakeville, but more progressive in every way than its neighbor. Bert and Cole made the trip the next day. They inquired at the Jamesville post-office as to whom they might approach in the matter of buying the second-hand engine, and were referred to the chief of the small fire department. That individual received the boys cordially. He was a man much interested in fighting fires, and he was justly proud of the new chemical engine the town had purchased. "Will they see the old engine?" asked Bert anxiously, after they had been shown the new one. "Yes, the town committee voted to dispose of her to anybody that wants her." "How much?" And at the question the hearts of the boys beat anxiously. "Sixty dollars, and it's very cheap. It cost three hundred when new. It's got double-acting pumps, and there's two hundred feet of good hose. It's dirt cheap." It was. Cole, who knew something of machinery, admitted this, and Bert had hardly hoped to get anything in the shape of an engine for less than seventy-five dollars. "Do you boys want to buy it?" asked the chief, for Bert had told him the object of their visit. "We did, but we haven't the money. Could the engine be held for us, for a few weeks?"