…would turn over a new leaf and live like respectable people. But what we wanted was five hundred pounds. If we had that sum we could retire to the country and run a farm. Jim liked an outdoor life, and I loved animals, so we thought a farm would suit us down to the ground.”Well, it was my turn first. Biding my time I, at last, saw a safe opportunity. I mingled with a crowd of well-dressed ladies at a benevolent bazaar in the West End, and came home with five nice fat purses — close on a hundred and fifty pounds in hard cash. Not bad, was it? I banked the money, and Jim, being a man of honour, told me that would do, and that I must now definitely retire on my laurels — a feat which he hoped soon to accomplish himself.One day Jim came to me…

…borne at a terrific speed through every description of varied scenery, in a country that was entirely new to me. I saw bare mountains rising to a prodigious height; wide plains where never a blade of grass grew; great sweeps of prairie alive with every kind of vegetable life; slow rivers, narrow rapid streams, and cataracts of hellish fury; forests of pines, moaning as in a hurricane; trees with strange faces like living things; woods full of flowers and peopled by maidens of exquisite beauty; meadows bathed in sunlight; and lofty cities built of coloured marble.And I was borne past all these and set down at the entrance to a sombre city, whose black and silent streets re-echoed to my footsteps. Cold with fear, — for every building I saw was black, and destitute of any sign of life, whilst overhead the blue sky had turned to an intense grey…