ywhere. A man with a
carpet like this isn't going to moulder in a semi-detached villa." Well,
that struck me as reasonable. "All right," I said; "and do you mean to
tell me I can get on that carpet and go straight to London, England?" I
said, "London, England," captain, because he seemed to have been so long
in your part of the world. "In the crack of a whip," said he. I
figured up the time. What is the difference between Papeete and London,
captain?'

'Taking Greenwich and Point Venus, nine hours, odd minutes and seconds,'
replied the mariner.

'Well, that's about what I made it,' resumed Herrick, 'about nine hours.
Calling this three in the morning, I made out I would drop into London
about noon; and the idea tickled me immensely. "There's only one
bother," I said, "I haven't a copper cent. It would be a pity to go
to London and not buy the morning Standard." "O!" said he, "you don't
realise the conveniences of this carpet. You see this pocket? you've
only got to stick your hand in, and you pull it out filled with
sovereigns."

'Double-eagles, wasn't iff inquired the captain.

'That was what it was!' cried Herrick. 'I thought they seemed unusually
big, and I remember now I had to go to the money-changers at Charing
Cross and get English silver.'

'O, you went there?' said the clerk. 'Wot did you do? Bet you had a B.
and S.!'

'Well, you see, it was just as the old boy said--like the cut of a
whip,' said Herrick. 'The one minute I was here on the beach at three in
the morning, the next I was in front of the Golden Cross at midday.
At first I was dazzled, and covered my eyes, and there didn't seem the
smallest change; the roar of the Strand and the roar of the reef were
like the same: hark to it now, and you can hear the cabs and buses
rolling and the streets resound! And then at last I could look about,
and there was the old place, and no mistake! With the statues in
the square, and St Martin's-in-the-Fields, and the bobbies, and the
sparrows, and the hacks; and I can't tell you what I felt like. I felt
like crying, I believe, or dancing, or jumping clean over the Nelson
Column. I was like a fellow caught up out of Hell and flung down into
the dandiest part of Heaven. Then I spotted for a hansom with a spanking
horse. "A shilling for yourself, if you're there in twenty minutes!"
said I to the jarvey. He went a good pace, though of course it was a
trifle to the carpet; and in nineteen minutes and a half I was at