Improved appliances will greatly assist the men; and Commander Wells's horsed escape fully justified expectations soon after its introduction. It can be hurried through the streets at twelve miles an hour, and the wonder is that the brigade used the old hand-driven machine with its slow pace so long. In December, 1898, a horsed escape reached a fire in Goswell Road in a minute from the alarm signalling in St. John's Square fire-station, and saved three lives,--an instance of very smart work that might establish a record, except that great smartness is everywhere the characteristic of the brigade. Let us, then, look at the story of the fire-escape a little more closely, and also at some of the new improved appliances, such as the new fire-engine floats and the river-service. CHAPTER XII. FIRE-ESCAPES AND FIRE-FLOATS. "Very smart indeed." The speaker was watching a light van, which had just been whirled into a yard. Light ladders projected horizontally in front of the van, and large wheels hung behind, a few inches above-ground. The machine was glowing in brilliant red paint. Off jump five men in shining brass helmets. "Stand by to slip!" cries one of the men, who is known as No. 1. Thereupon, another man casts off some fastenings at the head of the van, and controls the ladders until the large wheels touch the roadway; another man eases away certain tackle; and yet another, as by a magical touch, brings the ladder to an upright position directly the big red wheels come in contact with the ground, No. 2 man assisting him. The whole operation is performed with great smartness, and the escape--for the machine is one of Commander Wells's new horsed escapes--is whipped off its van and reared against the house in the proverbial twinkling of an eye. Such a scene may be witnessed any afternoon at the London Fire-Brigade Headquarters, when the horse-escape drill is being practised; and the superiority of the new machine over the old seems so obvious, that you exclaim: "I wonder it has not been done before!" The men's positions are all assigned to them. The "crew," as it is called, consists of four firemen and a coachman. When hurrying to a fire, No. 1 takes his place on the near side in front, No. 2 is at the brake on the off side, No. 3 at the brake on the near side, while No. 4 takes his seat on the off side. Arrived at the scene of the fire, each man springs to his appointed duty. When the escape is quite clear, No. 1 goes to the fire, No. 3 is seen busy with the gear, and the coachman is occupied with his horses. He removes them from the van if necessary, and is ready to ride with a message if required to do so. Moreover, the van carries five hundred feet of hose, and all the necessary gear for using a hydrant at once; so that water can be thrown on a fire directly, even without the arrival of an engine.