{"product_id":"2940013300385","title":"Life In The Red Brigade","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWet, worn and weary--with water squeaking in his boots, and a mixture of\u003cbr\u003echarcoal and water streaking his face to such an extent that, as a\u003cbr\u003ecomrade asserted, his own mother would not have known him--a stout young\u003cbr\u003eman walked smartly one morning through the streets of London towards his\u003cbr\u003eown home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was tall and good-looking, as well as stout, and, although wet and\u003cbr\u003eweary, had a spring in his step which proved beyond all question that he\u003cbr\u003ewas not worn-out.  As the comrade above referred to would have said,\u003cbr\u003e\"there was plenty of go in him still.\"  His blue and belted coat,\u003cbr\u003esailor's cap, and small hatchet, with the brass helmet swinging by its\u003cbr\u003echin strap on his left arm, betokened him a member of \"The Red\u003cbr\u003eBrigade,\"--a London fireman--one of those dare-anything characters who\u003cbr\u003eappear to hold their lives remarkably cheap, for they carry these lives\u003cbr\u003ein their hands, as the saying goes, night and day; who seem to be able\u003cbr\u003eto live in smoke as if it were their native element; who face the flames\u003cbr\u003eas if their bodies were made of cast iron; and whose apparent delight in\u003cbr\u003efire is such that one is led to suspect they must be all more or less\u003cbr\u003edistantly connected with the family of Salamander.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe young man's expression of countenance, as far as it could be\u003cbr\u003ediscerned through the charcoal and water, was hearty, and his name--\u003cbr\u003eDashwood--was in keeping with his profession.  The comrade, whose\u003cbr\u003eopinion we have already quoted, was wont to say that he ought to change\u003cbr\u003eit to Dashwater, that being his chief occupation in life.  We need\u003cbr\u003escarcely say that this comrade was rather fond of his joke.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArrived at a small street, not far from the Regent Circus, young\u003cbr\u003eDashwood entered a fire-station there, and found the comrade above\u003cbr\u003ereferred to in the act of disposing himself on a narrow tressel-bed, on\u003cbr\u003ewhich there was no bedding save one blanket.  The comrade happened to be\u003cbr\u003eon duty that night.  It was his duty to repose on the tressel-bedstead,\u003cbr\u003ebooted and belted, ready at a moment's notice to respond to \"calls.\"\u003cbr\u003eAnother fireman lay sleeping at his side, on another tressel-bed,\u003cbr\u003esimilarly clothed, for there were always two men on duty all night at\u003cbr\u003ethat station.  The guard-room, or, as it was styled, the \"lobby,\" in\u003cbr\u003ewhich they lay, was a very small room, with a bright fire in the grate,\u003cbr\u003efor it was winter; a plain wooden desk near the window; a plain deal\u003cbr\u003etable near the door, on which stood four telegraphic instruments; and\u003cbr\u003ehaving the walls ornamented with a row of Wellington boots on one side,\u003cbr\u003eand a row of bright brass helmets on the other, each helmet having a\u003cbr\u003esmall hatchet suspended by a belt below it.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068738945264,"sku":"2940013300385","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013300385_p0.jpg?v=1763579425","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013300385","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}