go on it for a month at a time, and have
different hours from the other men, namely, from nine in the morning
till five in the afternoon.

We have said it was interesting to watch our big hero, Number 666, in
the performance of his arduous duties. He occupied the crossing on the
city side of the circus.

It was a magnificent afternoon, and all the metropolitan butterflies
were out. Busses flowed on in a continuous stream, looking like big
bullies who incline to use their weight and strength to crush through
all obstruction. The drivers of these were for the most part wise men,
and restrained themselves and their steeds. In one or two instances,
where the drivers were unwise, a glance from the bright eye of Giles
Scott was quite sufficient to keep all right.

And Giles could only afford to bestow a fragmentary glance at any time
on the refractory, for, almost at one and the same moment he had to
check the impetuous, hold up a warning hand to the unruly, rescue a
runaway child from innumerable horse-legs, pilot a stout but timid lady
from what we may call refuge-island, in the middle of the roadway, to
the pavement, answer an imbecile's question as to the whereabouts of the
Tower or Saint Paul's, order a loitering cabby to move on, and look out
for his own toes, as well as give moderate attention to the
carriage-poles which perpetually threatened the small of his own back.

We should imagine that the premium of insurance on the life of Number
666 was fabulous in amount, but cannot tell.

Besides his great height, Giles possessed a drooping moustache, which
added much to his dignified appearance. He was also imperturbably
grave, except when offering aid to a lady or a little child, on which
occasions the faintest symptoms of a smile floated for a moment on his
visage like an April sunbeam. At all other times his expression was
that of incorruptible justice and awful immobility. No amount of chaff,
no quantity of abuse, no kind of flattery, no sort of threat could move
him any more than the seething billows of the Mediterranean can move
Gibraltar. Costermongers growled at him hopelessly. Irate cabmen saw
that their wisdom lay in submission. Criminals felt that once in his
grasp their case was hopeless, just as, conversely, old ladies felt that
once under his protection they were in absolute security. Even
street-boys felt that references to "bobbies," "coppers," and "slops;"
questions as to how 'is 'ead fel