t's Boot Store. Nobody was hit; but not many minutes had passed
when dense volumes of smoke followed by flames issued through the
windows--until at last the building had developed into a mighty bonfire.
What everybody long feared had at length happened. The excitement was
intense; hundreds of men, women, and children flocked to the burning
pile. The Fire Brigade used the hose for what it was worth; but to no
avail; the house was doomed, and finally was completely gutted. When the
blaze was at its height a few small shells fell amid the gesticulating
throng of sight-seers. A stampede followed; but nobody was struck,
_mirabile dictu_; and there was a general alternative run away and sneak
back as each missile exhausted itself.

There was an element of romance, more startling than the fire itself, in
all this. It was thought that the building (Abraham's Store) adjacent to
the one in flames was in grave danger, and the united exertions of the
firemen were ultimately directed to the task of saving it. Within its
hallowed walls was collected the bulk of our confiscated food! It had
been stored away by order of the Czar, and was guarded day and night by
a strong detachment of well-armed Cossacks. This circumstance lent, it
need hardly be said, a piquant and absorbing interest to the progress of
the blaze. It was of supreme importance--to the "Military" as well as
minor "Situations"--that the supplies should be preserved. What a
glowing page it would be in the war's history that the enemy three miles
away had compelled surrender by burning our provisions! For ourselves,
we got so little of the provisions to eat that we should not have been
particularly broken-hearted by the _contretemps_. Familiarity breeds
contempt, and we Were familiar with the "Military Situation"; its
exactions were so absurdly impalpable. It was natural, therefore, that
the activity of the Military should have provoked a certain amount of
chaff from the multitude of hungry civilians. The chaff went round,
anyhow, whether it was natural or not. Officers tripped over officers in
the wildest confusion, ordering, shouting, swearing, and directing the
shop-boys, the soldiers, and the Kafirs who toiled like demons to throw
the threatened foodstuffs into the street in an impossible space of
time. The men tumbled and staggered in clusters, while the advantages of
being a native unencumbered by the collars of our celestial civilisation
were conspicuously apparent. W