whistle the fire-engine, followed by the other two, flies out into Lal Bazar, the sparks trailing behind. Time--1 min. 40 secs. “They’ll find out it’s a false alarm, and come back again in five minutes.” “Why?” “Because there will be no constables on the road to give ’em the direction of the fire, and because the driver wasn’t told the ward of the outbreak when he went out!” “Do you mean to say that you can from this absurd pigeon-loft locate the wards in the night-time?” “Of course: what would be the good of a lookout if the man couldn’t tell where the fire was?” “But it’s all pitchy black, and the lights are so confusing.” “Ha! Ha! You’ll be more confused in ten minutes. You’ll have lost your way as you never lost it before. You’re going to go round Bow Bazar section.” “And the Lord have mercy on my soul!” Calcutta, the darker portion of it, does not look an inviting place to dive into at night. CHAPTER VI. THE CITY OF DREADFUL NIGHT. “And since they cannot spend or use aright The little time here given them in trust, But lavish it in weary undelight Of foolish toil, and trouble, strife and lust-- They naturally claimeth to inherit The Everlasting Future--that their merit May have full scope.... As surely is most just.” --_The City of Dreadful Night._ The difficulty is to prevent this account from growing steadily unwholesome. But one cannot rake through a big city without encountering muck. The Police kept their word. In five short minutes, as they had prophesied, their charge was lost as he had never been lost before. “Where are we now?” “Somewhere off the Chitpore Road, but you wouldn’t understand if you were told. Follow now, and step pretty much where we step--there’s a good deal of filth hereabouts.”