Braidwood keeps himself ready
for affairs of a more serious nature. When the summons is at
night--there are sometimes as many as half-a-dozen--the fireman on
duty below apprizes the superintendent by means of a gutta percha
speaking-tube, which comes up to his bedside. By the light of the
ever-burning gas, he rapidly consults the "London Directory," and if
the call should be to what is called "a greengrocer's street," or any
of the small thoroughfares in bye-parts of the town, he leaves the
matter to the foreman in whose district it is, and goes to sleep
again. If, however, the fire should be in the city, or in any of the
great West-End thoroughfares, he hurries off on the first engine.
Five minutes is considered a fair time for an engine "to horse and
away," but it is often done in three. Celerity in bringing up aid is
the great essential, as the first half hour generally determines the
extent to which a conflagration will proceed. Hence the rewards of
thirty shillings for the first, twenty for the second, and ten
shillings for the third engine that arrives, which premiums are paid
by the parish.
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