them, for the
street was very still, and almost every house seemed deserted and
empty.

The sound came again, and Joseph remarked:

"'Tis some poor dog who perchance has lost master and home. There
be only too many such in the city they say. They throw them by
scores into the river to be rid of them; but I have heard father
say that it is an ill thing to do, and likely to spread the
contagion instead of checking it. Alive, the poor beasts do no ill;
but their carcasses poison both the water and the air. Beshrew me,
but he makes a doleful wailing!"

Going on cautiously through the darkness, for the moon was veiled
behind some clouds, the brothers presently saw, lying just outside
a shut-up house, a long still form wrapped in a winding sheet, put
out ready for one of the many carts that passed up the street on
the way to the great pits in Bunhill and Finsbury Fields. Whether
the corpse was that of a man or a woman the boys could not tell.
They made a circuit round it to avoid passing near.

But beside the still figure squatted a little dog of the turnspit
variety, and he was awakening the echoes of the quiet street by his
lugubrious howls.

Both the brothers were fond of animals, and particularly of dogs,
and they paused after having passed by, and tried to get the
creature to come to them; but though he paused for a moment in his
wailing, and even wagged his tail as though in gratitude for the
kind words spoken, he would not leave his post beside the corpse,
and the boys had perforce to go on their way.

"The dumb brute could teach a lesson in charity to many a human
being," remarked Joseph, gravely; "he will not leave his dead
master, and they too often flee away even from the living. Poor
creature, how mournful are his cries! I would that we could comfort
him."

At the gate they were stopped and questioned. They told a
straightforward and truthful tale; their pass was examined and
found correct; and their father's name being widely known and
respected for his untiring labours in the city at this time, the
boys were treated civilly enough and wished God speed and a safe
return. They were the more quickly dismissed that the sound of
wheels rumbling up to the gate made itself heard, and the guard
darted hastily away into his shelter.

"These plague carts will be the death of us, passing continually
all the night through with their load," he said. "Best be gone
before it comes through, lads. It carries death