ir raiders, you know; so in
each compartment the gloom was enhanced rather than dissipated by two
tiny pin points of a ghastly pale-blue gas flame. I do not know why
there should have been two of these lights, unless it was that the
second one was added so that by its wan flickerings you could see the
first one, and vice versa.

During the trip, which lasted several hours longer than the scheduled
running time, we had for refreshments a few gnarly apples, purchased
at a way station; and that was all. Recalling the meals that formerly
had been served aboard the boat trains of this road, I realised I was
getting my preliminary dose of life on an island whose surrounding
waters were pestered by U-boats and whose shipping was needed for
transport service. But I pinned my gastronomic hopes on London, that
city famed of old for the plenteous prodigality of its victualling
facilities. In my ignorance I figured that the rigours of rationing
could not affect London to any very noticeable extent. A little
trimming down here and there, an enforced curtailment in this
direction and that--yes, perhaps so; but surely nothing more serious.

Immediately on arrival we chartered a taxicab--a companion and I did.
This was not so easy a job as might be imagined by one who formed his
opinions on past recollections of London, because, since gasoline was
carefully rationed there, taxis were scarce where once they had been
numerous. Indeed, I know of no city in which, in antebellum days,
taxis were so numerously distributed through almost every quarter of
the town as in London. At any busy corner there were almost as many
taxicabs waiting and ready to serve you as there are taxicabs in New
York whose drivers are cruising about looking for a chance to run over
you. The foregoing is still true of New York, but did not apply to
London in war time.

Having chartered our cab, much to the chagrin of a group of our fellow
travellers who had wasted precious time getting their heavy luggage
out of the van, we rode through the darkened streets to a hotel
formerly renowned for the scope and excellence of its cuisine. We
reached there after the expiration of the hour set apart under the
food regulations for serving dinner to the run of folks. But, because
we were both in uniform--he as a surgeon in the British Army, and I as
a correspondent--and because we had but newly finished a journey by
rail, we were entitled, it seemed, to claim refreshment.

H