Life in the Red Brigade | Page 4

engine.
Crack! went the whip, fire flew from the paving-stones, fire poured
from the furnace, the spirited steeds tore round the corner into Regent
Street, and off they went to the fire, in the dark winter morning, like a
monster rocket or a vision of Roman gladiators whirled away by a red
fiery dragon!
Mrs Dashwood heard them go, and turned with a little sigh to her
washing-tub. She was very proud of Joe, and she had good reason to be,
for he was one of the best men in the Red Brigade, and, what was of
more importance to her, he was one of the best husbands in the world.
Perhaps this was largely owing to the fact that she was one of the best
of wives! His career as a fireman had been short, but he had already
become known as one of the daring men, to whom their Chief looked
when some desperate service had to be performed. On several
occasions he had, while in charge of the fire-escape, been the means of
saving life. Upon the whole, therefore, it is not surprising that Mary
was proud of her husband--almost as proud of him as she was of the
little rosebud; but in regard to this she was never quite sure of the exact
state of her mind.
Meditating on Joe, and giving an occasional glance at May, whose
sweet upturned face seemed nothing short of angelic, Mrs Dashwood
continued energetically to scrub the fairy-like habiliments, and make
the soapsuds fly.
Meanwhile, the red engine whirled along its fiery course at full gallop,
like a horrible meteor, clattering loudly in the deserted streets of the

great city. So it would have sped in its wild career even if it had been
broad day, for the loss of a single moment in reaching a fire is
important; but in this case the men, instead of sitting like
brazen-headed statues, would have stood up and increased the din of
their progress by shouting continuously to clear the crowded
thoroughfares. As it was, they had it all to themselves. Sometimes the
corner of a window-blind was hastily lifted, showing that some wakeful
one had curiosity enough to leap out of bed to see them pass. Here and
there a policeman paused, and followed them with his eye as long as
the tail of sparks from the furnace was visible. Occasionally a belated
toper stopped in his staggering progress to gaze at them, with an
idiotical assumption of seriousness and demand, "Wash ey maki'n sh' a
'orrible row for?" Now and then a cat, with exploratory tendencies, put
up its back and greeted them with a glare and a fuff, or a shut-out cur
gave them a yelping salute; but the great mass of the London
population let them go by without notice, as they would have treated
any other passing thunderbolt with which they had nothing to do.
And yet they had something to do with that engine, or, rather, it had to
do with them. But for it, and the rest of the Red Brigade, London would
have long ago been in ashes. It is only by unremitting vigilance and
incessant action that the London fires can be kept within bounds. There
are nearly two thousand fires in the year in the metropolis, and the
heroic little army which keeps these in check numbers only three
hundred and seventy-eight men. That this force is much too small for
the work to be done is proved by the fact, that the same men have
sometimes to turn out three, four or five times in a night, to work of the
most trying and dangerous nature. There is no occupation in which the
lives of the men employed are so frequently risked, and their physical
endurance so severely tried, as that of a London fireman. As there are,
on the average, five fires every night all the year round, it follows that
he is liable to be called out several times every night; and, in point of
fact, this actually takes place very often. Sometimes he has barely
returned from a fire, and put off his drenched garments, when he
receives another "call," and is obliged to put them on again, and go
forth weary--it may be fasting--to engage in another skirmish with the
flames. In all weathers and at all seasons--hot or cold, wet or dry--he

must turn out at a moment's notice, to find himself, almost before he is
well awake, in the midst of stifling smoke, obliged to face and to
endure the power of roasting flames, to stand under cataracts of water,
beside tottering walls and gables, or to plunge through smoke and
flames, in order to rescue human lives. Liability to be called
occasionally to the exercise of