ike a ghost, having fallen, he said, between two coffins!
Quickly recovering from his fright he again descended with his comrades,
and they soon managed to extinguish the fire.

The foreman went off to bed after relating this pleasant little incident
and left me to meditate on it. Presently a sound of distant wheels
struck my ear. On they came at a rattling pace. In a few minutes a cab
dashed round the corner and drew up sharply at the door, which was
severely kicked, while the bell was rung furiously. Up jumped the
sleepers again and in rushed a cabman, backed by a policeman, with the
usual shout of "fire." Then followed "question brief and quick
reply"--"a fire in Great Portland Street close at hand."

"Get her out, Bill," was the order. Bill darted to the engine-shed and
knocked up the driver in passing. He got out the horses while the other
man ran from house to house of the neighbouring firemen giving a
_double_ ring to their bells. Before the engine was horsed one and
another and another of the men darted into the station, donned his
helmet, and buckled on his axe; then they all sprang to their places,
the whip cracked, and off we went at full gallop only eight minutes
after the alarm-bell rang. We spun through the streets like a rocket
with a tail of sparks behind us, for the fire of the engine had been
lighted before starting.

On reaching the fire it was found to be only smouldering in the basement
of the house, and the men of another engine were swarming through the
place searching for the seat of it. I went in with our men, and the
first thing I saw was a coffin lying ready for use! The foreman led me
down into a vaulted cellar, and here, strange to say, I found myself in
the midst of coffins! It seemed like the realisation of the story I had
just heard. There were not fewer than thirty of them on the floor and
ranged round the walls. Happily, however, they were not tenanted. In
fact the fire had occurred in an undertaker's workshop, and, in looking
through the premises, I came upon several coffins laid out ready for
immediate use. Two of these impressed me much. They lay side by side.
One was of plain black wood--a pauper's coffin evidently. The other was
covered with fine cloth and gilt ornaments, and lined with padded white
satin! I was making some moral reflections on the curious difference
between the last resting-place of the rich man and the poor, when I was
interrupted by the fire