Second-in-Command.

Perhaps the title of this article should have been “The Men in Front,” for there are two.

The second—the fireman—is younger. He, too, is inclined to be quiet and vigilantly ruminative. He, also, understands how to achieve results by an economy of effort, which is necessary in the confined space of an engine cab.

All his actions are neat and effective. He never fumbles, and his muscles function with a kind of fastidious precision; he is never hurried, but, to the uninitiated, he seems to do an amazing number of things simultaneously.