He pursed his
mouth several times into the form of a round O, and began "Rule
Britannia"; but the sounds invariably died at the part where the
"charter of the land" is brought forward. He tried "The Bay of Biscay,
O!" with no better success, never being able to get farther than
"lightning's vivid powers," before his mind was up in the clouds, or in
Mr Tippet's garret, or out on the Archimedes-Lever Railway.

Thus wandering in dreams he reached home, talked wildly to his anxious
mother, and went to bed in a state of partial insanity.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

A LITTLE DOMESTIC CHIT-CHAT.

One night, not long after the events narrated in the last chapter, Frank
Willders was standing with the fireman-in-charge in the King Street
Station. He had just removed his helmet, and the perspiration on his
brow showed that he had been but recently engaged in some active duty;
as indeed was the case, for he had just returned from a "walk" to a fire
in Whitechapel.

"It was only a small affair," said Frank, hanging up his helmet and axe,
and sitting down to fill his pipe; "a low beer-shop in Brook Street; the
taproom burnt out, and the rest of the house damaged by smoke. It was
pretty well over before I got there, and I left half an hour after.
Where are the rest o' the lads?"

"They're out wi' both engines," said Baxmore, who was busy making a
memorandum on a slate.

"With both engines!" said Frank.

"Ay, both," replied Baxmore, with a laugh, as he sat down in front of
the fire. "Let me see; it's now nine o'clock, so they've bin off an
hour; one to Walton Street, Brompton; the other to Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater. The call was the queerest I've seen for many a day. We was
all sittin' here smokin' our pipes, as usual, when two fellers came to
the door, full split, from opposite pints o' the compass, an' run slap
into each other. They looked like gentlemen; but they was in such a
state it wasn't easy to make out what sort o' fish they was. One had
his coat torn and his hat gone; the other had his tile pretty well
knocked down on his eyes--I s'pose by the people he run into on the
way--an' both were half-mad with excitement. They both stuttered, too--
that was the fun o' the thing, and they seemed to think each was takin'
off the other, and got into a most awful rage. My own opinion is, that
one stuttered by nature, an' the other stuttered from fright. Anyhow,
they both stuttered together, and a precious mess they m