if the sweltering heat that hung over london added in one way to the terror of the hour, it was not without a beneficent effect in another direction. under such a sky, and with a barometer somewhere in the nineties, it was impossible for rioting to last long at a stretch.
the early hours of dawn saw london comparatively quiet again. perhaps it was no more than the sleep of exhaustion and sullen despair, perhaps the flame might break out again with the coming of the day. down in the east end a constant struggle was maintained, a struggle between the industrious and prudent and those who depended upon luck or the power of the strong arm.
the day came again with the promise of another round of blazing hours. at first there were no signs of lawlessness, nothing more than an eager jostling stream of people pushing impatiently towards the districts where water could be obtained. these were the folks who preferred to get their own instead of waiting for the carts or tanks to visit them.
naturally, the press was full of good advice. thousands of correspondents had rushed into print with many a grotesque suggestion for getting rid of the difficulty. amongst these ingenious inventions was one that immediately arrested popular attention. the writer pointed out that there were other things to quench thirst besides water. there were hundred of tons of fruit in london, it came up from the provinces by the trainload every day, foreign vessels brought consignments to the thames and the mersey. let the government pour all this into london and distribute it free in a systematic way.
this letter appeared in three popular papers. the thing was talked about from one end of london to the other. it was discussed in whitechapel and eagerly debated in the west end clubs.
instantly the whole metropolis had a wild longing for fruit. some of the shops were cleared out directly at extraordinary prices. grapes usually sold at a shilling or two the pound now fetched twenty times their value. a costermonger in the strand with a barrow of oranges suddenly found himself a comparatively rich man. towards midday crowds began to gather before the big fruit stores, and in the neighbourhood of covent garden traffic was impossible.
prices went leaping up as if fruit had become as extinct as the dodo.
still the stuff came pouring in in response to urgent telegrams. it looked as if the dealers were bent upon making a fortune out of the public mood. like lightning the news of what was happening flashed over london, and gradually the approaches to covent garden were packed with people.
another man, amidst the yells of the crowd, sprang to the top of the load and whirled a basket of apples far and wide.
presently curiosity was followed by a sullen resentment. who were these men that they should be allowed to fatten on public misfortune? these things ought to have been given away if only on the ground of mere public policy. through the crush came a waggon-load of baskets and boxes. a determined-looking mechanic stopped the horses whilst another man, amidst the yells of the crowd, sprang to the top of the load and whirled a basket of apples far and wide.
"you've got too heavy a load, matey," he said grimly to the driver.
the man grinned meaningly. he was benefiting nothing by the new order of things. he took an apple and began to eat it himself. in a few minutes every speck of fruit had disappeared.
the thing was done spontaneously and in perfect order. one moment the market had been absolutely crammed with fruit of all kinds, an hour afterwards it was empty.
it was a fairly good-humoured crowd, if a little grim, as yet. but the authorities had serious faces, whilst quite half the police in streets looked shy and out of place as well they might be seeing that several thousand of them had been drafted into london from all parts of the country. towards midday a sport was added to the amusement of the great mobs that packed the main streets. there was not the slightest reason why all london should not be at work as usual, but, by mutual consent, the daily toil had come to a standstill. it was grilling hot with a sun that made the pavement gleam and tremble in the shimmering haze and there was little to quench the thirst of the multitude. but then did not london teem from end to end with places of public entertainment where thirsts were specially catered for?
already sections of the crowd had begun to enter them and call loudly for sundry liquids. why should the hotel proprietors get off scot free? mysteriously as the sign that called up the indian mutiny, the signal went round to raid the public houses. there was no call to repeat it twice.
everybody suffered alike. the bars were choked and packed with perspiring humanity yelling for liquid refreshment, the men who were wise bowed to the inevitable and served out their stock till it was exhausted and said so with cheerful faces. in the strand the cellars of certain famous restaurants were looted and one proprietor proclaimed that whitechapel and shoreditch had taken from him wines to the value of ￡30,000. men were standing in the strand with strange dusty bottles in their hands, the necks of which they knocked off without ceremony to reach the precious liquid within. for the most part they were disappointed. there were murmurs of disgust and wry faces at the stored juice of the grape that a connoisseur would have raved over.
fortunately there was little or no drunkenness. the crowd was too vast and the supply too limited for that. and practically there was no rioting where the unfortunate license holders were discreet enough to bow to the inevitable. one or two places were gutted under the eyes of the police who could do no more than keep a decent show of order and bustle about certain suspicious characters who were present for something more than curiosity.
about one o'clock in the afternoon the early edition of the evening papers began to appear. they were eagerly bought up with a view to the latest news. presently the name of the mirror seemed to rise spontaneously to every lip. nobody knew whence it came or why, but there it was. with one accord everybody was calling for the mirror. there was pregnant news within. yet none of the papers could be seen in the streets. there was a rush to the office of the paper.
a large flag floated on the top of the building. across the front was a white sheet with words upon it that thrilled the heart of the spectator.
"the panic is at an end. london to use its full water supply again. dr. darbyshire saves the situation. the mains turned on everywhere. see the mirror."
what could it mean? in the sudden silence the roar of the mirror printing presses could be heard. presently the big doors in the basement burst open and hundreds of copies of the paper were pitched into the street. no payment was asked and none was expected. a white sea of rustling sheets fluttered over men's heads as far as the strand. up there the turncocks were busy flushing the gutters with standpipes, a row of fire engines was proceeding to wash the streets down from the mains. the whole thing was so sudden and unexpected that it seemed like a dream.
who was this same dr. darbyshire who had brought this miracle about? but it was all in the mirror for everyone to see who could read.
"very late last night dr. longdale the well-known hygienic specialist was called to charing cross hospital to see dr. darbyshire who the night before had been taken to that institution with concussion of the brain. it may not be generally known that dr. darbyshire discovered the bubonic plague bacillus in the thames which led to the wholesale cutting off of the london water supply.
"unfortunately the only man who might have been able to grapple with the difficulty was placed hors de combat. we know now that if nothing had happened to him there would have been no scare at all. unfortunately the bacillus story found its way to the office of a contemporary, who did not hesitate to make capital out of the dreadful discovery. the dire result that followed on the publication of the telephone we already know to our cost.
"to obviate that calamity dr. darbyshire was on his way to the telephone office when he met with his accident. late last night the learned gentleman had so far recovered as to ask full particulars of what had happened and also to see dr. longdale without delay.
"judge of the surprise and delight of the latter to know that matters had been already remedied. it appears that for years past dr. darbyshire has been experimenting upon contaminated water with a view to making the same innocuous to human life. quite recently the discovery has been perfectly and successfully tried with water impregnated with the germs of every known disease. so long as so many great towns draw their water supply from open streams liable to all kinds of contamination, dr. darbyshire felt sure there would be no public safety till the remedy was found.
"the remedy had been found and would have been made public directly, when there came the now historic case of the santa anna and the alarming outbreak of bubonic fever at ashchurch.
"on reaching the village in question and on verifying his suspicions, dr. darbyshire found that the waters of the thames were strongly impregnated with the germs of that fell disease. as a matter of fact, the sterilising process was applied at once, and an examination of the water of the thames a few miles lower down gave the result of absolute purity.
"this part of the story dr. darbyshire had no time to tell his colleague dr. longdale. he was only too anxious to get away and prevent the issue of a scare leader by the telephone.
"accident prevented this design, and when dr. longdale was questioned he was bound to admit that he had seen the thames water strongly impregnated with the bubonic bacillus. after that there was no alternative but to cut off the supply from the thames. let us hope the severe lesson has not been in vain.
"once these facts came to dr. longdale's notice, he lost no time. a special train was dispatched to ashchurch, and returned quickly, bringing specimens of water from the thames.
"these, after investigation, a small body of leading specialists drank without the slightest hesitation. the new process of sterilisation discovered by dr. darbyshire has saved the situation. otherwise it would have been impossible to magnify the disaster."
did ever a quiet and dignified newspaper paragraph produce such a sensational outbreak in the history of journalism? nobody needed to be convinced of the truth of the statement—truth was on the face of it. men shook one another by the hand, hats were cast into the air and forgotten heedless of the blazing sun; up in the strand where fire-engines were sluicing the streets with water people stood under the beating drip of the precious fluid until they were soaked to the skin; well-dressed men laved themselves in the clear running gutters with an eagerness that the pursuit of gold never surpassed. london was saved from disaster, and dr. darbyshire was the hero of the hour.
the great man was sitting up in bed and modestly listening to the story that longdale had to tell. darbyshire was blaming himself severely.
"i ought to have told you," he said. "when i asked you to come round to me the other night i had a dramatic surprise for you. i told you all about the fever and the state of the thames. from the condition of the germs i knew that the trouble had not gone far. here was a chance to test my sterilisation on a big scale. i tried it with perfect success. i'll show you the whole process the first time i get back home."
"yes, do," said longdale grimly. "it's all right as it is, but if you meet with another accident and another such scourge comes along and we don't know——"
"i quite understand. when i had worked upon your feelings, i was going to show you the whole thing. then i found out what that fellow chase had got hold of, and i had to fly off post haste and see his editor. i didn't mind the paper having its 'scare' so long as i came in at the finish with the assurance that there was no need for alarm.
"hence my hurry, and hence my accident. all the same, it was a mean thing, longdale. some day perhaps the country will realise what a debt it owes to its men of science."
longdale looked at the yelling joyous mob outside heedless of the sunshine and reckless in the hysteria of the moment.
"and perhaps the country will foster them a little more," he said. "nothing but science could have prevented a calamity that would have multiplied ten-fold the horrors of the great plague, and destroyed, not thousands, but tens of thousands."
darbyshire nodded thoughtfully.
"one of the things that might have been," he said.
"might have been! we have had a lesson, but i doubt if we shall profit by it. england never seems to profit by anything. it is one of the things that may be. and there is more difference than meets the eye."
