rozen traffic which made all further
advance in that direction impossible. A ship was blazing brightly
alongside one of the wharves near the bridge, and the air was full of
drifting smuts and of a heavy acrid smell of burning. There was a cloud
of dense smoke somewhere near the Houses of Parliament, but it was
impossible from where we were to see what was on fire.

"I don't know how it strikes you," Lord John remarked as he brought his
engine to a standstill, "but it seems to me the country is more cheerful
than the town. Dead London is gettin' on my nerves. I'm for a cast
round and then gettin' back to Rotherfield."

"I confess that I do not see what we can hope for here," said Professor
Summerlee.

"At the same time," said Challenger, his great voice booming strangely
amid the silence, "it is difficult for us to conceive that out of seven
millions of people there is only this one old woman who by some
peculiarity of constitution or some accident of occupation has managed to
survive this catastrophe."

"If there should be others, how can we hope to find them, George?" asked
the lady. "And yet I agree with you that we cannot go back until we have
tried."

Getting out of the car and leaving it by the curb, we walked with some
difficulty along the crowded pavement of King William Street and entered
the open door of a large insurance office. It was a corner house, and we
chose it as commanding a view in every direction. Ascending the stair,
we passed through what I suppose to have been the board-room, for eight
elderly men were seated round a long table in the centre of it. The high
window was open and we all stepped out upon the balcony. From it we
could see the crowded city streets radiating in every direction, while
below us the road was black from side to side with the tops of the
motionless taxis. All, or nearly all, had their heads pointed outwards,
showing how the terrified men of the city had at the last moment made a
vain endeavor to rejoin their families in the suburbs or the country.
Here and there amid the humbler cabs towered the great brass-spangled
motor-car of some wealthy magnate, wedged hopelessly among the dammed
stream of arrested traffic. Just beneath us there was such a one of
great size and luxurious appearance, with its owner, a fat old man,
leaning out, half his gross body through the window, and his podgy hand,
gleaming with diamonds, outstretched as he urged his chauffeur to make