And as he spoke the flames burst out from every window on the fourth floor and the heat became so intense that the people in the windows across the street drew back, while the firemen pulled their hats down over their faces and one or two of them deliberately soaked themselves with water from the hose. All this time streams of water from the water-tower and the different lines of hose had fallen upon the flames without making any apparent effect; Bruce knew that Captain Murphy was somewhere inside the burning building with his men and he wondered fearfully if they would ever come out alive. They were paying out more hose near him, and he saw what he recognized as a siamese connection brought from one of the tenders and attached to a rubber hose of more than ordinary thickness. Bruce knew what the connection was used for, and in company with Mr. Dewsnap, who knew almost as much about it as the men themselves, he crossed the street and watched the men as they attached to the joint two separate lines of hose, each one of which was connected with an engine. Then the signal was given and two streams of water were forced, each by its own engine, through the brass connection, or siamese joint, and into the big hose, forming one stream of tremendous power. When this stream was turned on the building its effect on the flames was apparent at once. And now there were other people besides the firemen and Mr. Dewsnap walking about inside the fire lines and stepping over the lengths of black hose, which were curling and writhing about the street like so many big serpents. Standing near the corner, Bruce noticed half a dozen well dressed young men, who were watching the scene carefully and from time to time making notes in books which they took from their pockets. They were the reporters of the daily newspapers who had been sent to the scene of action as soon as the alarm came in. Each one wore on his breast a silver plated fire-badge, issued by the department, which gave him the right to cross the line. Another man who wore a similar badge and stood in earnest conversation with the chief, was, so Mr. Dewsnap said, an employee of one of the great electric companies. “And very useful those electric men are at a fire sometimes,” explained the old gentleman. “You see these electric wires were unknown in my time, but now it is a very important matter to keep track of them at a fire because it is a dangerous thing to have them break loose and swing about while the men are at work. It’s death to put your finger on one of them; and there’s no one but a regular employee of one of the electric companies that can handle them with any safety. Then there’s that chap from the gas works; he has a badge because he’s a useful man, too. Sometimes a stream of water thrown into a room will break a chandelier short off and then the gas escapes and there is liable to be an explosion when the flames reach it.”