walls and metal pipes, which shimmered and glistened in the light. Soon there was total darkness ahead, total darkness behind, and Burton experienced the same sensation he'd had when rising through the fog in the rotorchair: that he was moving but going nowhere; that this journey had no end.
He pressed on.
He was under the Thames, that was obvious, and the thought of that great weight above terrified him. He'd never been good with enclosed spaces. Bismillah! What he'd give now for the endless plains of Africa or the evershifting desert sands of Arabia!
'Why did I agree to this?' he whispered into Fidget's ear. 'Serving an Empire whose actions I deplore, in a country I can't call home?'
Fidget whimpered and rested his chin on his master's shoulder.
Eventually, and quite unexpectedly, the tunnel ended at a Hight of stairs.
Breathing a heartfelt sigh of relief, Burton stepped out of the water and ascended. He came to a room in every way identical to the one at the other end of the subterranean passage, and, setting Fidget onto the floor, he pushed the hound's nose into a paw print.
'Follow! There's a good boy!'
The dog crossed to the door opposite the entrance to the stairs and looked meaningfully at Burton, as if to say, 'Open it!'
The famous adventurer did so and stepped out onto another slimecovered walkway. He was still beneath London Bridge but now on the Southwark side. He snapped off his lantern and shoved it into a pocket.
Fidget led him up onto Tooley Street, where he was met with a scene of utter devastation. This part of London, the Hay's Wharf area, had been completely destroyed by a disastrous fire back in June. Its warehouses had burned for two weeks, and even now, three months later and with the rain falling upon it, the wreckage was still visibly smouldering. To the east, almost as far as the eye could see, lay a ravaged landscape; a black wasteland sprawling beneath a dirty haze that even the rain couldn't wash away.
Burton winced. This was a painful sight, for among the warehouses had been Grindlays, the place where he'd stored the bulk of the Oriental manuscripts he'd spent so much of his Army pay on while in India, plus trunks filled with Oriental and African costumes and mementoes, and a great many of his personal notebooks.
It had all been consumed by the blaze.
He remembered with grim amusement how the clerk at Grindlays' head office, upon seeing his distress, had asked, 'Did you lose any plate or jewellery, sir?'
'No, nothing of that nature,' had replied Burton.
'Ah, well!' exclaimed the clerk, looking much happier. 'That's not so bad then!'
Fidget tugged at his leash.
They turned westward and followed the river as far as Southwark Bridge before then turning inland. With his nose close to the ground, Fidget pulled the king's agent into a bystreet and from there into the depths of the borough.
Burton could see that the route the basset hound was following would probably be quiet at night but now it was past midday and the streets were thronged with citizens going about their business. Pushing their way through the crowds, the man and the dog passed through alley after alley, out of the borough and into Lambeth, through Lambeth and on to Vauxhall, until they finally emerged on Nine Elms Road. Here, the scent trail veered off the highway and through a hole in a wooden fence. It continued ahead, running parallel to the thoroughfare, and already Burton had an idea of the destination, for the sky in front of him was broken by four tall chimneylike structures.
Swinburne couldn't stop laughing.
His entire body hurt. He was bruised and lacerated and every injury was sending a thrill of pleasure coursing through his nerves.
Laurence Oliphant was being driven to a blind fury. He'd thrown down his sword cane, removed and dropped his jacket, rolled up his shirtsleeves, and was now setting about the poet with unrestrained viciousness.
Oh yes, he was going to kill the little man, but he'd be damned if he'd make it easy for the redheaded pipsqueak! No, a long, slow, terrifying death, that's what Swinburne was going to get.
So again and again he allowed his prey to reach that temptingly open door, and again and again he pounced on him at the last second and hurled him back into the courtyard.
And Swinburne laughed.
Oliphant circled the poet, grinned diabolically, swooped in, and struck. Swinburne spun into the air and thudded onto the ground, his clothes shredded, the skin beneath ripped.
He dragged himself along, a ragged, bloodied mess, his eyes wild, his giggle becoming a gurgle as blood streamed from his nose and split lips.
In four long strides, Oliphant was at his side.
'What are you?' gasped Swinburne. 'One of Nurse Nightingale's foul experiments?'
'Shut your mouth!'
'What did she do to you, Oliphant?'
'She saved me.'
'From what?'
'Death, Swinburne, death. I overindulged in opium, became an addict, and slipped into a coma in a Limehouse drug den. Miss Nightingale rescued the functioning parts of my brain and fused them with a humanised animal.'
'What animal?'
'My white panther.'
'Ah, that explains it!'
'Explains what?'
'The lingering odour of cat piss I smell every time you come close.'
Oliphant emitted a ferocious hiss, grabbed the poet-one hand clutching the back of his neck, the other his right thigh-lifted him, whirled around, and flung him high into the air. Swinburne smashed into the base of a wall, dropped, rolled loosely, and lay still, his green eyes level with the ground, watching the albino's feet approaching.
Through bubbling blood, he croaked:
'Thou hast conquered, 0 pale Galilean;
The world has grown grey f -om thy breath;
We have drunken from things Lethean,
And fed on the fullness of death.'
Oliphant bent over him. 'Run, little man,' he whispered. 'Run for the door.'
Swinburne rolled onto his back and looked up into the wicked pink eyes.
'Thank you,' he mumbled. 'But I have it in mind to lie here and compose a poem or two, if you don't mind.'
'I mind,' answered Oliphant. He grabbed the poet's throat and yanked him up. Then he lifted him off his feet, fingers tight around the skinny neck, and watched with interest as his victim's face began to darken.
Swinburne kicked and struggled, clutching at his assailant's wrists, but couldn't break free.
He caught sight of something over Oliphant's shoulder and suddenly relaxed, hanging limply.
Somehow, he managed to smile.
Oliphant looked at him in wonder.
A deep, commanding voice rang out: 'Drop him!'
The albino whirled.
Sir Richard Francis Burton stood just inside the gate. He had picked Oliphant's swordstick up and held it, unsheathed, in his hand. At the adven turer's feet, a small dog backed toward the door, stepped through, and hid behind it, peeking out at Oliphant.
'Burton,' breathed the albino.
He let go of Swinburne, who slumped to the ground and lay still, quietly chuckling.
'Come here, you bastard,' snapped the king's agent.
'I'm unarmed,' revealed Oliphant, walking forward with his arms spread wide.
