“Because it was not one of our numbers,” the chief explained. “It was a genuine alarm of fire, but not in our district. Of course every engine in the city does not go to every fire; each engine goes only to the fires in its own district, and we know where the fire is by the number of taps. But every engine in the city is manned and made ready to go out whenever an alarm comes. You see we cannot tell when the bell begins to tap whether it is going to be one of our numbers or not. For instance, the gong just struck three and two--thirty-two. That station is away up in Harlem, and we could hardly reach it in an hour. But the gong might have gone on and added four to the thirty-two, making 324. That would have been one of our stations, and we would have gone out. You see we were all ready on the first tap for whatever might happen.” “Well!” Dick exclaimed, “that is a very complete system. But what I don’t understand is how the horses got out here so fast. I didn’t see anybody touch them.” “No!” the chief laughed; “no one touched them. But I shall have to begin back at the fire itself to make that clear to you. For an easy example, we will suppose that a fire is discovered in the Astor House, and that somebody runs out and pulls the handle in the nearest alarm box, which is at Vesey Street and Broadway. The number of that box is 23, and the pulling of the handle immediately telegraphs ‘23’ to the fire headquarters in Mercer Street. A clerk sits there by the instrument, with a cabinet in front of him full of tiny drawers, each drawer containing a little brass disk notched in the side to correspond with the numbers. He takes out disk number 23 and drops it into a slot prepared for it in another instrument, and presses a button. Quick as a wink ‘23’ is telegraphed to every engine-house in the city. “Now we come to the horses,” he continued. “That little flash of electricity does a great deal of work. It not only taps the number on our big gong, but at the same time it releases a weight which drops and pulls back the bolts that fasten the horses in their stalls, and rings a smaller gong over their heads. They are so used to the business that the instant they hear the gong they know they are free, and they start on a run for their places in front of the engine and tender. They know where to go and what to do as well as the men.” “I like to see the horses best of all!” Dick exclaimed enthusiastically. “What noble fellows they are! But the whole thing is very complete.”