“There is the hose,” said Jonas, suddenly.
Rollo turned away from the fire to look at the hose which Jonas pointed out to him, lying upon the pavement. There were a great many persons coming and going, so that he could not see very well; but he perceived a long pipe of leather lying along the street, in a serpentine direction, and swelled out with the water which the engine was driving through it, as if it was just ready to burst.
“Yes, and it hisses like a snake too,” replied Jonas.
Rollo listened, and he could just hear a hissing sound mingling with all the other noises. He stepped out into the street to see how the hissing sound was produced.
They found that at one of the joints of the hose there was a little leak, and the water spouted from it in a stream, which, though it was very small and slender, mounted as high as Rollo’s head. The light from the fire shone so brightly upon this part of the street that Rollo could see the operation very distinctly.
Jonas thought that it was not very safe for them to remain in the midst of the road much longer; so they went back to the sidewalk, and then began to move along towards the fire. The crowd was so dense that they could not get along very well; but at last they came to a place where they got up upon some steps, where they could see pretty well, only that Rollo was not tall enough. There were many others standing upon the steps, and Rollo could not see very well over their shoulders. There was, however, a pretty high stone post at the top of the flight of steps, and very near the house, where Jonas thought that perhaps Rollo could sit, if he could get him up there. Rollo was afraid that the place was not wide enough, for there was a ball upon the post, and he could only sit upon that part of the top of the post which was upon one side of the ball.
However, Rollo was so desirous of seeing them put out the fire, that he concluded to try, and so Jonas helped him climb up. He found the place a better one than he had expected. He clasped one hand around the ball, and he rested the other upon Jonas’s shoulder and by this means he found that he had a firm and comfortable seat; and the fire, with all the operations connected with it, were in full view before him.