nd there
were times when the river itself seemed ablaze. For, as the flames
wrought havoc amongst the warehouses and stores along the wharfs,
burning masses of oil and tar would pour out upon the bosom of the
water, blazing terribly, and the boatmen had to keep a sharp watch
sometimes lest they and their craft should be engulfed in the fiery
stream. To the ignorant, who knew not what caused the water to wear
this aspect of burning, it appeared as though even the river had
ignited. This increased their terrors tenfold, and they say that
some poor distraught creatures actually flung themselves into the
fire or the water, convinced that the end of the world had come,
and careless as to whether they perished soon or late."

"But my father--my father!" cried Janet earnestly.

"Ah, true, thy father. I heard of him from the watermen in the
wherries, who told me the tale of how he had saved the bridge by
pulling down his workshops and drenching the ruins with water. It
seemeth to me that unless some prompt and resolute course of a
similar kind is taken tomorrow or tonight, infinite loss must
ensue. No ordinary means can now check this great fire. But surely
the Lord Mayor and his advisers will have by now a plan on foot.
Were I not so weary, and anxious about my wife, I would go forth
once more to see what was doing. But I must wait now for the
morrow, and then, pray Heaven all danger may be at an end. Fear
not, good friends, if you hear terrible sounds as of an earthquake
shaking the house this night. Men say that if the city is to be
saved it must be by the blowing up of whole streets of small houses
somewhere in the path of the flames, so that they shall have
nothing whereon to feed. Others say that nothing will stop them,
and that none will be found ready to make sacrifice of their
dwellings for the public good, preferring to risk the chance of the
flames reaching them. I know not the truth of all the rumours
flying about; but the thing might be, and might be wisely done. So
fear not if you should hear some sounds that will make you think of
an earthquake. And call me if aught alarms you, or if my wife
should change either for the better or the worse."

So saying, Lord Desborough took himself off to his well-earned
repose; and the two nurses passed the night, sometimes waking and
sometimes sleeping, but not disturbed by any strange sounds of
explosion, and hopeful, as the night passed without special event,
that the fi