ctor.
"I have letters to write, and so will go to my room. You had better
get on a bus and go as far as you can in the time. I should advise your
taking one which runs through the Strand and on past Charing Cross and
Westminster. But wherever you go you will find it interesting."

Jack had never gone alone through the streets of London before, but he
was quite old enough to take care of himself, and having selected a bus,
with the words "Strand, Charing Cross, and Victoria" painted on the
side, he boarded it while it was running at a respectable pace, just as
every boy likes to do, and seated himself in the garden-seat on top,
just behind the driver.

"Afternoon, sir!" the latter, a jolly, red-faced individual, exclaimed.

"Good afternoon!" Jack replied. "I'm up in town for the second time in
my life, and if you can tell me the names of the various buildings we
pass, I shall be much obliged to you."

"Ah, then you ain't the first gentleman from the country as I've taken
round!" answered the busman, grinning with pleasure, for, seated for
many hours during the day on his box, an occasional chat came as a
treat, which relieved the monotony.

"Well now, sir, that there building's the Law Courts, and a fine place
it is too; and under that funny-looking arch on t'other side is the
Temple, where all these lawyer chaps has their lodgings and their
church."

As they drove through the Strand the driver showed him the various
theatres, and finally pointed to the National Gallery across Trafalgar
Square.

"That's where all the best pictures go to, sir," he said, "and if yer
was to pass along on the right of it you'd see the sodger-sergeants
a-walking up and down a-looking for recruits. And a fine bag they are
making nowadays. What with old Kruger and the Transvaal Boers there's
likely to be trouble coming, and that's what draws recruits. When
there's a chance of active service the young chaps comes up in scores.
Funny, ain't it, when yer think of other countries where pretty well
every man has to join the army, whether he likes or not; while here, in
free England, it's left to choice, and no one need belong who doesn't
like!

"Do yer know who it is who's perched up yonder a-looking down towards
Westminster?" he continued, nodding to the Nelson Monument.

"Yes, that's Nelson, of course," answered Jack. "I've been here once
before, I remember, to see the square and the fountains playing."

"Nelson it is, right