he crowd.

I should have liked to explain, but he did not give me time.

"Young fool!" said one of the crowd; "you might have killed him. Do you
know who that was?"

"Who?" I gasped, for I was out of breath. "That young man who--"

"Yes--that young man's the Prince of Wales."

It's twenty-six years ago since it happened, and probably the King has
forgotten the adventure. I haven't. I retired from the runaway-horse
business that very afternoon.

Another door was shut against me. Still there were others left, and the
house-on-fire line had a good deal to recommend it. It was a thing in
which one could not well make a mistake. It had been possible, as I had
found out by painful experience, to mistake the pranks of a lively
swimmer for drowning, and the capers of a lively mare for bolting. But
there was no mistaking a house on fire when you saw one. People in a
burning house, moreover, would be likely to give every facility possible
for their own rescue, and the chances were one would not find many
competitors to deprive one of the glory. On the whole, I warmed up to
this new opening considerably.

Of course one never has the good fortune to have a fire in one's own
house when it is wanted. It would have been exceedingly convenient for
me to have to rescue my own family from the flames. As it was, I had to
spend a good many dreary nights in the street in the neighbourhood of
the fire alarms before I so much as smelt fire.

It was a good one when it came. A great warehouse in the City was
gutted, and those who saw the blaze are not likely to forget it in a
hurry. I saw it. I had scampered with all my might after one of the
engines, but only to find a dense crowd on the spot before me. There
was a wide circle kept round the place, and never did circus-goers fight
for a front row in the gallery as did that crowd fight for a front place
at this grand show.

It was nearly an hour before, by dint of squeezing, sneaking, fighting,
and beseeching, I could get to the front. By that time the fire had
done its worst. Still I had noted with satisfaction that no fire-
escapes had yet been brought up, so that any unfortunate inmates were
sure to be still safe for me. The firemen were playing on the flames
with their hoses, and every now and then an alarm of a tottering wall
sent them flying back to a safe distance. It was a grand opportunity
for me to brave these poltroons on their own ground, and show them