Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/56

 "Naw," replied Tom, in a tone which implied that he had no patience with any one who could ask such a question. "What would a cannon be doing up here in the woods? Do you think these greenhorns are going to try to get up a celebration for our benefit?"

"No, I don't; but they've got up one for their own. Do you hear that?" answered Ralph, as the warning roll of a drum, followed by the music of a band, rang out on the air. "The procession, or whatever it is, is coming this way, too. Now I shall expect to see something that will eclipse any thing New London ever thought of getting up."

It wasn't a celebration; it was only the annual review of the Mount Airy fire department, which was always held on the Fourth of July. Ralph and his cousins were fully prepared to make all sorts of fun of it, but when the head of the procession came into view around the corner of the street below, they were so surprised at the size of it that they had not a word to say. It took up the whole width of the street, and that it was determined to have all the room it wanted, was made plain by the