find more diamonds, and Ellen agreed--wishing
with Paulett that the strife were over and the last agony suffered, and
that they were among the free and disembodied spirits. London was their
object; for there they might hope to find most of the materials of what
was now the most precious of all things, water; and providing as well as
they could for their necessities by the way, they quitted the cavern,
and set off on their journey.

First came the father, carrying the little Alice in his arms; the boy
held his mother by the hand; and they followed Paulett on his path.
There was the delicate woman, the mother of all that remained alive of
the human race, setting out on the desert, which she remembered, but a
few years before, the scene of luxury and abundance. On her shoulder she
carried a burthen containing corn for their sustenance; and the brave
boy took his share by bearing the jar of water which had been provided
for their support on the journey; and thus the last family of mankind
set out on their pilgrimage over the desolated earth. The unmitigated
sun had made great rents in the sides of the hills, and, together with
the wind, had broken up the roads, between which and the parched fields
there was scarcely now any difference. Where there had been inclosures
and hedges, the withered sticks had in most places yielded to the winds,
and were scattered about the spot where they had stood. Here and there
were the marks of fire, which had run along the country till some
interval of previous desolation had stopped it; and where this had been
the case, the black unsightly remains lay strewn over the surface, one
further step advanced in dissolution than the dead world around. There
was no want of habitations for their nightly shelter. Palaces and
cottages, all alike, were open; all alike were silent and tenantless
habitations. They might choose where they would. And the first day they
did not go far, for Ellen and her children, with stout hearts, had not
bodily strength for great fatigue, and were unused to the strong
exertion they were now compelled to make. Towards evening, therefore,
when they reached a house with which Paulett and Ellen had once been
familiar, they determined to rest there for the night. They pushed open
the gates, which still swung on their hinges, and which admitted them to
what had been a park, filled once with trees, and bathed with waters. A
large wood covered the hill which rose on one side, and w