!" yelled the other.

"Where away?" asked a fireman as he quietly buckled his belt and put on
his helmet.

"B-B-Brompton!"--"B-B-Bayswater!" burst from them both at the same
moment. Then one cried, "I--I s-s-say Brompton," and the other shouted,
"I--I s-say Bayswater."

"What street?" asked the fireman.

"W-W-Walton Street," cried one.

"N-No--P-P-orchester Terrace," roared the other, and at the word the
Walton Street man hit the Porchester Terrace man between the eyes and
knocked him down. A regular scuffle ensued, in the midst of which the
firemen got out two engines--and, before the stutterers were separated,
went off full swing, one to Brompton, the other to Bayswater, and found
that, as they had guessed, there were in reality two fires!

One night's experience in the "lobby" will give a specimen of the
fireman's work. I had spent the greater part of the night there without
anything turning up. About three in the morning the two men on duty lay
down on their trestle-beds to sleep, and I sat at the desk reading the
reports of recent fires. The place was very quiet--the sounds of the
great city were hushed--the night was calm, and nothing was heard but
the soft breathing of the sleepers and the ticking of the clock as I sat
there waiting for a fire. I often looked at the telegraph needles and,
(I am half ashamed to say it), longed for them to move and give us "a
call." At last, when I had begun to despair, the sharp little telegraph
bell rang. Up I started in some excitement--up started one of the
sleepers too, quite as quickly as I did, but without any excitement
whatever--he was accustomed to alarms! Reading the telegraph with
sleepy eyes he said, with a yawn, "it's only a stop for a chimbley." He
lay down again to sleep, and I sat down again to read and wait. Soon
after the foreman came down-stairs to have a smoke and a chat. Among
the many anecdotes which he told me was one which had a little of the
horrible in it. He said he was once called to a fire in a cemetery,
where workmen had been employed in filling some of the vaults with
sawdust and closing them up. They had been smoking down there and had
set fire to the sawdust, which set light to the coffins, and when the
firemen arrived these were burning fiercely, and the stench and smoke
were almost overpowering--nevertheless one of the men ran down the stair
of the vaults, but slipped his foot and fell. Next moment he rushed up
with a face l