ade of it.

"`F-F-F-Fire!' roared one.

"`F-F-F-Fire!' yelled the other.

"`Where away?' asked Mr Dale, looking quietly at the two men, who were
gasping for breath.

"`B-B-B-Brompton,' `B-B-B-Bayswater!' they shouted together; and then,
turnin' fiercely on each other, the one said `N-N-N-No!' and the other
said `N-N-N-No!' `Now, _which_ is it?' said Dale, `an' _be_ quick--do.'

"`B-B-B-Brompton!'

"`B-B-B-Bayswater!' in a breath; then says one, `I--I s-s-say
_Brompton_!' an' the other, he says, `I--I s-s-say _Bayswater_!'

"At this they grew furious, and Dale tried to calm them and settle the
question by asking the name of the street.

"`W-W-Walton S-Street!' cried one.

"`P-P-P-Porchester T-T-Terrace!' shouted the other.

"`N-N-No!' `Y-Y-Yes!' `N-No!' an' with that, one up fist an' hit the
other a crack between the eyes. T'other returned on the nob, and then
they closed.

"Before this Mr Dale had ordered out one o' the engines, an' when he
heard the two streets named it occurred to him that there might be _two_
fires, so he ordered out the other engine; and before we got the
stutterers separated both engines were off full swing, one to Brompton,
the other to Bayswater; but whether there are two fires or no is yet to
be seen."

Just as Baxmore concluded, the rattle of a returning engine was heard.
Next moment it dashed up to the door, and the firemen, leaping off,
streamed into the station, where; amid much comment and some laughter at
the scene they had so recently witnessed, they hung up their helmets and
crowded round the fire.

"So it _was_ in Brompton, after all," said Jack Williams, stirring the
coals; "but it was a small affair in a baker's shop, and we soon got it
out."

"Is the other engine back?" inquired Moxey.

"Here she comes to answer for herself," said Mason, as the second engine
dashed up to the station, and the men were joined by their comrades.

"We've got it out," said Dale, sitting down before the desk to enter the
particulars in his diary; "it was a private house, and well alight when
we got there, but the Paddington engine was playing on it, and we soon
got it under."

"Faix, it's well them stutterers didn't kape us longer, else the whole
house would have bin burnt out intirely," observed Joe Corney, binding
up a slight wound in his thumb, which he had received from a splinter.

Most of the men were more or less begrimed with charcoal and smoke, and
otherwise bore marks