wed by a rush of several persons in the direction from which the
alarm proceeded. In a few minutes all the torches in the street seemed
to be collected in one spot, and the crowd grew rapidly. I expected to
hear the fire-bell, but I was told that the Londoners have no alarm-bell
of any kind. The glare of a conflagration is usually the first warning
conveyed to the firemen, when instantly a score of engines are turned
out, horses, that are always kept ready harnessed, are fastened to the
shafts, and away they go, pell-mell, through the streets, every vehicle,
to the Lord Mayor's or Prime Minister's carriage, being compelled to
draw aside and give them room to pass. On this occasion their services
were not required, the fire being confined to the basement-story of the
building in which it had originated, and extinguished by the exertions
of the inmates before any material injury was sustained. The crowd that
had collected was not a small one, and the congregation of so many
torches dispelled in part the oppressive gloom of the fog. But when they
had dispersed, and the unnatural darkness was made more palpable by the
sudden contrast effected by the withdrawal of such a glare of light, I
found that my companion had disappeared. Once I fancied that my name was
called, and I thought that he was perhaps searching for me in a wrong
direction. I ran, as I conjectured, in pursuit of his retreating
footsteps, but was soon abruptly brought to a halt by a wall, against
which I nearly dashed myself with a force that would have stunned me. Of
the name of the hotel, or even of the street on which it was situated, I
was utterly ignorant, and as the climax of my difficulty, I discovered
that all the money I had in my pocket was a fifty-cent piece that I had
brought from New-York. I attempted to buy a torch of a boy, but I could
not persuade him that my half-dollar, though it was not current money,
was worth much more than an English sixpence, valued as old silver. He
evidently regarded me as an improper character, and refused to deal with
me. I detained the first man I met, and explained my situation, but as I
could give him no clue to the whereabouts of the hotel, he could furnish
me no assistance. As nearly as I could conjecture, it was within half a
mile of the spot where I was standing, but I could not indicate the
direction, 'There are fifty hotels,' he said, 'within that distance,
taking the sweep of the compass.'

I now began serio