“Now this little chap of yours went up and rang that bell, and then he cried out ‘Fire,’ as I’ve told you.  Then—­well, lots of things happened.  But I couldn’t help laughing when I found out it was a false alarm, and learned just why Freddie, as he tells me his name is, rang the bell.”

“And why was that?” asked Mr. Bobbsey, quickly.

Freddie spoke up for himself.

“The bell had a sign on it,” said the little fellow, “and it said to ring it for a fire.  I wanted to see a fire, and so I rang the bell and—­ and—­”

Freddie’s lips began to quiver.  He was just ready to cry.

“There, there, my little man!” said the captain kindly.  “No harm is done.  Don’t worry.  It’s all right,” and he patted Freddie on the shoulder.

“You see it’s just as Freddie says,” the captain went on.  “There is a large sign painted near the bell which reads:  ‘Ring this for a fire.’  I suppose it would be better to say; ‘Ring the bell in case of fire.’  I believe I’ll have it changed to read that way.  Anyhow, your little boy saw the sign over the bell, And on the bell is a rope so low that any one, even a child, can reach it.  So your Freddie just pulled the rope, clanged the bell, and then he cried ‘Fire!’ as loudly as he could.  Some one else took up the cry, and, there you are!”

“And so you rang the bell, did you, Freddie, because you wanted to see a fire?” asked the father of the little fellow.

“Yes,” answered Flossie’s brother.  “I wanted to see how they put out a fire on a boat, and the bell said for to ring for a fire, and I wanted a fire, I did; not a big one, just a little one, and so——­”

“And so you just naturally rang the bell!” laughed the captain.  “Well, I guess that’s partly my fault for having the sign read that way.  I’ll have it changed.  But your little boy is quite smart to be able to read so well,” he added.

“Oh, I go to school!” said Freddie proudly, “only there isn’t any now on account of—­well I guess the boiler got on fire,” he added.

“He’s a regular little fireman,” said Mr. Bobbsey.  “He can’t read very much, but one of the first words he learned to spell was ‘fire,’ and he’s never forgotten it.”

The boat was now going on down the river toward Mount Vernon, and the excitement caused by the false alarm of fire was over.

Of course Freddie had done wrong, though he had not meant to, and perhaps it was not all his fault.  However, his father and mother scolded him a little, and he promised never to do such a thing again.

I wish I could tell you that the Bobbsey twins were interested in Mount Vernon, but the truth of the matter is that the two younger ones were so busy talking about Freddie’s fire alarm, and Bert and Nan, with Billy and Nell, also laughed so much about it, that they did not pay much attention to the tomb of the great Washington, or anything about the place where the first President of the United States once had his home.