New-York tribune., 1906-07-15

pricking his ears and qulckening ms step lOi .
moment at the familiar sound OF gong anu
bells Another he met while standing ior an
hour in a cold drizzle at lOngshOre hre on the
East Side This one still belonged TO the city,
but was hitched to a refuse wagon now.
Twice in his career Ginger took part IN con-
tests in horse athletics. and made Two statloH ~
records: this with the help of Billy the driver.
as two men might run together IN three-legSeu
race Standing fourteen feet from ms coliaI'
he had a hitching record OF two ana 1lel,
| seconds from the clang of the gong TIL ne stoOG
ready harnesSed TO the engine. In three anu
| a fifth seconds more he had moved, alone, an
| apparatus weighing fifty-one hundred pounds
| a distance of thirty-six feet. At another time'
| with single mate he had pulled the same ma
chine an eighth of mile in eighteen and htth
| seconds. ,
Once there had been great exhibition in the
presence of the Mayor and other city OhclalS.
\ All about the door of the statlOn-hOuse ana III
| two lines down the street for three DloCkS Or
| more a crowd had gathered to see the hre-
horses run The chief sounded the eleven
taps which is the test signal tor calling Out tIe
apparatus In five seconds the engine nac
| crossed the sill of the building and was neaded
sleeves of new shirt rolled up, Billy urged the
| three big horses. as the smoke rolled torth
above the ever-steaming engine. FoAowins,
| at break-neck pace, came the hOSe-cart, ana
then the truck bell changing. In minute ana
| three-ouarters by the watch the engine was
/ drawn up alongside the stone walls OF Nat
| ional Guard arrnory and a long stream OF water
was reaching to its roof
| The gong rang one day toward the close Oh
his sixth wear as a fire-hOrse, bringing work OF
| a different sort. The blaze was in a West Side
| garage for automobiles, and as the engine
reached the scene and the water began to play,
/ the exploding tanks of the steam machines
scattering fragments OF iron and wood, c0uld
| be heard above the craCkle of the flames. Into
the cellar the fire patrol had plunged. Knee
| deep in the water which poured about them,
with barrels filled with gasolene on every hand.
the men worked reckless of danger 70 save the
machinery.
Presently came grinding sound from over
head and great mass of machines fell through
the broken girders of the second floor to the
| FIRST hung there moment, then IN a gnarled
heap smashed through the cellar. ScramDlmg
| bV ones and tWOS through the windows to the
sidewalk came the patrol. Not all of them.
Too short had been the warning of the crumb-
ling beams, and three men stayed behind.
The front wall of the building trembled for
a moment, weakly held by the abutting sides,
then, it's support knocked from under it.
buckled outward, and sank in heap into the
/ street.
A thin shower of brick and mortar, like so
much ejecta of volcano, fell around the en-
CINE of station Forty-Four A splinter from
a rafter hit the driver on the head, dropping
him in his tracks Two policemen raised Billy
to his feet and began TO lead him away.
But Billy was recovering from the stun of
| w,
he struggled to free himself I'm all rightl"
he cried. Leave me here This is my placei
| Leave me with the hOrsesi"
But the officers persisted. The injured man
was no longer useful. in their opinion.
To Ginger a policeman's uniform was not
new At every great fire he had seen it, stand
ing about at the fre-lines, keeping the crowds
back while the firemen worked. But though
it thus had its place, it was something apart to
him. something which he did not recognize to
have a right of interference with engine Forty
Four.
As Billy struggled past in the grasp of the
policemen, "Gingerp' he muttered, Still half
dazed, as he caught glimpse of the horse at
center with his head turned toward him.
The ten-thousand-pound engine was too
great a weight for one whiffietree at a single
Jump and as for the second time it snapped in
two Ginger plunged forward, and policeman
cried out in pain. The horse had gripped his
arm, biting through the cloth, and held it vice
like. Billy shook himself free and tottering
over to the animal took his head gently, trem-
blingly, between his palms, often he had
done in the quiet of the station house.
In the station that night Ginger appeared in
trouble. He did not lie down in his stall like
the other horses, worn with their long Ordeals
in the drizzle of rain and the smoke and fumes
of the fire.
L