midnight
They are one . Every fireman nowadays must pass muster at life-saving drill , must climb to the top of any building on his scaling-ladder , slide down with a rescued comrade , or jump without hesitation from the third story into the life-net spread below . By such training the men are fitted for their work , and the occasion comes soon that puts them to the test . It came to Daniel J. Meagher , of whom I spoke as foreman of Hook-and-Ladder Company No. 3 , when , in the midnight hour , a woman hung from the fifth-story window of a burning building , and the longest ladder at hand fell short ten or a dozen feet of reaching her . The boldest man in the crew had vainly attempted to get to her , and in the effort had sprained his foot . There were no scaling-ladders then . Meagher ordered the rest to plant the ladder on the stoop and hold it out from the building so that he might reach the very topmost step .