Now, the small Loo Jupp being out of danger, and her father, grinning like a gridiron with the firelight behind it, every day at her bedside, the force of circumstances—which, in good English, means the want of money—sent Cradock Nowell once more catʼs–cradling throughout London, to answer advertisements. His heart rose within him every day as he set out in the morning, and in the same relative position fell, as he came home every evening. “Do, sir, do,” cried Issachar Jupp, who never swore now, before Cradock, except under strongest pressure; “do come aboard our barge. Iʼve aʼmost a–got the appointment of skipper to the _Industrious Maiden_, homeside of Nine Elms, as tight a barge as ever was built, and the name done in gold letters. Fact, I may say, and not tell no secrets; I be safe to be aboord of her, if my Loo allow me to go, and I donʼt swear hard at the check–house. And, perhaps, I shall be able to help it, after Loo so ill, and you such a hangel.” “Well, I donʼt know,” replied Cradock, who could not bear to simulate intense determination; “I should like a trip into the country, if I could earn my wages as agent, or whatever it is. But suppose the canal is frozen up before our voyage begins, Jupp?” “Oh, d—n that!” cried Issachar, for the idea was too much for him, even in Cradockʼs presence; “I never yet knew a long winter, sir, after a wonderful stormy autumn.” And in that conclusion he was right, to the best of my experience. Perhaps because the stormy autumn shows the set of the Gulf Stream. By this time more than a month had passed since Cradock and Wena arrived in London; half his money was spent, and he had found no employment. He had advertised, and answered advertisements, till he was tired. He had worn out his one pair of boots with walking, for he had thought it better to walk, as it might be of service to him to know London thoroughly; and that knowledge can only be acquired by perpetual walking. No man can be said to know London thoroughly, who does not know the suburbs also—who, if suddenly put down at the Elephant and Castle, or at Shoreditch Church, cannot tell exactly whither each of the six fingers points. Such knowledge very few men possess; it requires the genius loci—to apply the expression barbarously—as well as peculiar calls upon it. Cradock, of course, could not attain such knowledge in a month. Indeed, he was obliged to ask his way to so well–known a part as Hammersmith, when he had seen an advertisement for a clerk, to help in some coal–office there.