Dan McReady bit his lip. The warehouse was intermittently blotted out by smoke, and it came and went as if it were a magic lantern picture. The stench of wet burned wool was almost unbearable. One of the firemen was winding in the hoses across the muddy, ash-littered street.

‘I can’t understand it,’ said McReady. ‘He told me to wait right here. “Wait right here,” he told me. He said he wouldn’t be more than five minutes.’

Collis was too tired to wait any longer. ‘If he’s the best, as you said, then he’ll come around for his money, even if he was to look you up at your office. He wouldn’t give you a fire like that for free. Not and keep his mouth shut about it, too. Now, let’s go get a drink, for God’s sake. My throat feels like a charcoal burner’s chimney.’

‘Maybe we ought to give him five minutes more.’ McReady frowned.

‘Dan,’ said Collis, wearily, ‘he’s not coming. He’ll be around tomorrow maybe, but it’s pretty damned plain that he’s not coming tonight.’

‘Okay,’ said McReady reluctantly. ‘I guess you’re right.’

They left the corner and crossed the street. A fireman called, ‘Watch that hose, will ya?’ and they had to sidestep as a wet canvas hose slithered past them like a glistening anaconda. The night disappeared in a rolling cloud of smoke, and then appeared again. Everybody’s face was pale with tiredness and smudged with soot. They looked like clowns at a funeral.

As they passed the burned wall of the warehouse that fronted on California Street, they heard one of the firemen call, ‘Captain! Come take a look at this!’

Collis walked on, but Dan McReady caught his arm. ‘Wait. Just for a minute.’ Collis sighed and paused. The fire captain was crossing the wreckage in his peaked cap and his shiny boots, his tunic strained in front by a mighty well-fed paunch, and his britches strained behind by an equally well-fed rump. Three or four more firemen joined him, and soon half the company were standing around in a circle, shaking their heads and talking. Collis couldn’t hear what they were saying because of the constant hiss of steam from the pumpers.