|
|
|
|
|
|
coolness in them. They were lit from time to time with evil flashes of lightning, which seemed to be generated by the heat that rose up from the baked earth and the smoldering ruins. The wind was down, thank God. Now and then a fitful gust blew from the east. It did not concern Geoffrey, who was aware of the wide band of burnt-out land between the remains of the fire and the western part of the city. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What Geoffrey did not know, because he and his men had retreated across the bridge fighting the holocaust every step and had then been laboring to warn people and contain the eastern edge of the fire, was that a band of buildings on the western side of the bridge had been fired. These warehouses and dwellings did not burn violently but sullenly smoldered. There was little draft to fan the flames and the buildings had been well wetted in the early attempts to prevent the fire from spreading to the north bank of the Thames. Little by little, the heat of the day plus the heat of a city in flames had dried out the damp. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With the first gusts of hot wind from the east, here and there a wicked little yellow tongue licked out to taste the unburned structure. No one was there to see, to cry a warning. Those who feared had fled much farther from the fire. Those who had courage were on the eastern end of the fire where, until the wind died, it had threatened to swallow all in its path. The little yellow tongues licked more quickly, more fiercely, spawned many others. Because it was the outside of the buildings and the roofs that had been wetted, the sharp red teeth of fire that gnawed what the yellow tongues first licked ate away the vitals of the homes and warehouses. Soon, mad orange eyes that flickered and leapt looked out of the windows that were open or glared behind closed shutters. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Geoffrey's body was inured to hard labor. He was accustomed to days in the saddle topped by days of fighting and more days in the saddle. He was accustomed to doing without sleep or with very little sleep for long periods. Nonetheless, this bout of activity had brought him near the end of his ability to endure. He had ridden down to |
|
|
|
|
|