"Come on, fellows!" cried Bert. "Here's our chance! The engine is in good working order, and we'll have our first run!" CHAPTER VII BERT SAVES A TRAMP The boys needed no further call. With whoops and yells they began to haul the engine rapidly in the direction of the fire, the reflection of which could already be seen. "Come on!" cried Mr. Sagger, to several of the bucket brigade. "We must put out the fire. Come on, men!" He caught up his bucket from the corner where he kept it. Other villagers did likewise, and soon there was quite a throng headed for the burning haystack. "Leg it, boys! Leg it!" cried Tom Donnell. "Don't let those fellows of the bucket brigade get ahead of us!" "If-they-do-we-can-beat-'em-by-squirting-more-water," panted Cole Bishop. "But-say-fellows-go-a little slower-I can't-run-much farther." Indeed, he was out of breath, for the long tramp from Jamesville had tired him. "Jump up on the engine, Cole," proposed Bert. "We can pull you. We'll make you engineer, and the engineer always rides on the machine." "All--right," responded Cole, gratefully. He scrambled up on the apparatus, and, with a shout and cheer, the boys were off faster than before, for Cole had been a hindrance rather than a help, in pulling the apparatus, as he could not go fast. "Fire! Fire!" shouted many voices, taking up the cry of the constable. This brought out nearly all the members of the bucket brigade. The blaze was now brighter. "Where we going to get our water?" asked John Boll of Bert, as he raced alongside of his chum, both dragging on the rope. "In the brook. It runs right past Kimball's place, and we can form a line of buckets right down to it and up to the engine." Mr. Kimball's place was on a side street. He had a house and a small barn. The latter building was not large enough to store his hay in, so he kept the stuff in a stack outside. "Come on! Come on!" Constable Stickler could be heard yelling. "The barn'll catch pretty soon." "We're coming!" replied Bert. "For th' love of tripe! What's that?" cried the constable, as he caught sight of the engine. "The Lakeville Fire Department!" responded several boys. "Humph!" exclaimed the constable. "Don't you boys go to interferin' with the bucket brigade. I won't have it. The bucket brigade is the regular department for this town." "The only thing the matter with it is that it can't put out any fires," was the retort from John Boll. "Let's show 'em how we do it, boys." On the way from Jamesville, Bert and Cole, who had been instructed by the chief of that department how to operate the engine, imparted this information to their chums. So, though the lads had never before worked a hand engine, they felt that they could make a good showing. "We'll have to hustle, boys," called Bert to his little force. "That bucket brigade will have it in for us, and they can handle a haystack fire pretty good. Let's show 'em how we do it."