t 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,