Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1912 — CAP, THE FIRE DOG [ARTICLE]

CAP, THE FIRE DOG

Cap had lived with the firemen ever since he coulcL remember. He had been brought to the station when he was only a little puppy, and every fireman loved him and declared that Cap was the wisest dog that he had ever seen. One fireman had taught Cap to stand on his back feet and say, “Bow-wow!” whenever he was hungry. ~ Another fireman had taught him to scratch the floor below the water faucet and bark whenever he was thirsty. He could walk on his back feet, drink from the fire hose, and drag the hose about whenever he was told to do so. The chief of the flra department said that Cap could do more “tricks” than any dog he bad ever seers, and the best one of all he had learned to do without ever having been told how to do it. The firemen slept upstairs over the station in long rows of white beds, and, whenever the fire bell rang in the night, the firemen would spring from their beds, dress before you could say “Jack Robinson,’’ run to. the four large holes in the floor, and come sliding down the poles one after another: then they would run to the horses, which at the Sound of the bell had found their places in front of the engine, the hose-cart, the hook-and-ladder wagon, and the chief's cart, buckle on the harness, and each’fireman" would spring into place ready to drive away to the fire. Cap longed to slide doWn the poles as the firemen did, but of course that was something no dog could do. So, if he happened to be upstairs, as he often was, when the fire bell rang in the daytime, ho would run to the stairway, clear the steps at three bounds, and spring to his place on the seat beside the chief. But at night Cap stayed downstairs, sleeping very near the telephone and fire bell; and, when the alarm sounded, the firemen -would hear Cap’s loud “Bow-wow!” almost as soon as they heard the bell, and, no matter how quickly they dressed, they would always find Cap in his place ahead of them. “He is the best fireman in the station," the chief would sometimes say. “He is always dressed and ready for work.” And the firemen would laugh and pat Cap’s head, and say that, if they slept ih their clothes as Cap did, they, too, would be ready and in their place* in one minute.

But no fireman ever slept after the bell rang, and not one of them was ever known to say, “Wait a minute,” or, “I am too sleepy to go.” Even the horses would run to their places the Instant they heard the bell, so Cap thought it his place to do th* same. One night there was a great storm, and something happened to the tele, phone and fire bells, so that they could not ring; and, in thp night time, when all was dark and still and all the firemen and the fire horses were sound asleep, a house caught fire, and the policeman on the street corner ran to the telephone to call the firemen out. The fire bell tried its best to ring; but, instead of a loud “Ding-a-ling,” could say nothing mote than “BH,” Not a fireman heard it. Not even a fire horse moved. “Bs-«-z!” said the bell again, and suddenly Gap opened his eyes, and with a loud “Bow-wow-wow ! M sprang to his place in the chief’s cart. 7 1 - The fireman rolled out of their bode, and each one asked: “Did you hear that? Did the fire ben rings" And the answer came: “No, It was only Cap barking; but he to certainly saying ’fire.’ We had better dress and slide down and see about it” "Bow-wow! bow-wow-wow I” barked Cap. “B-s-e-sI” said the bell just as the first fireman camo sliding down the pole. “Flrol” shouted the fireman. “Cap wae right. Oome on!” And in a moment there was a clattering of many hoofs as the fire horses dashed to their places, the jingling of harness as it dropped into place on the horses’ backs, shouts of “Fire, keep out of the street!" from the policeman In front of the station, and “clang, clang, clang!" from the gongs of the engine, the hose cart, the hook-and-ladder wagon, and the chief's wt m they duhed away down the street. The fire was soon found and put out; and. when the people who lived in the burping house came out to thank the firemen, the chief patted Cap on the head and aald: “Do not thank us. Thank Cap. He is the best fireman of us all.” And Cap, who had never for one moment ceased his “Bow-wow-wow!” wagged hie tall and said, dog fashion. “I did the best I could, but I am not a fireman, I am only Cap, the fire dog.” —Mdna Bverett, in Kindergarten Review.