Fire! Fire! by Stuart Hill Read Free Book Online Page A

would go to be safe from the fire! So I quickly turned around and hurried away, putting as much distance between me and the boiling lead and exploding stones of the cathedral as I could. I could only hope that Pip had done exactly the same and was safe somewhere.
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    I don’t know how long I ran through the burning streets of the city. The sky was dark with clouds of smoke, so I couldn’t guess the time and any church bells that still rang the hours had either been burnt down or their chimes were lost in the deafening roar of the fire. I could see no landmarks to guide me and I soon lost my way. One burning street looks much the same as another.
    As I ran, I coughed and spluttered in the smoke. My hands were black with soot and I guessed that my face would be in the same state. My clothes were scorched too and peppered with small black holes where sparks had hit me and burned through the cloth. Some of these sparks had reached my skin and I could feel tiny burns all over my back, shoulders, arms and legs.
    I knew I couldn’t go on for much longer; my chest ached from the smoke and fumes and I could hardly breathe. I had to get out of the fire and find a safe place to rest. Eventually I was forced to slow down by sheer exhaustion until I was barely shuffling forwards, pushed along by the crowds of people who were still cramming the streets as they ran from the fire. Despite feeling totally worn out, I forced myself to keep looking, to keep searching for any sign of Pip. Where was he? Why couldn’t I find him? But really I knew it was impossible. I suppose I secretly knew it always had been. How could I have hoped to find one little runaway dog in this huge city? Especially when the city was engulfed in flames?
    The fire was closing in on everyone and everything. It would kill all living things in its path. What chance did any of us have against the fury of the flames?
    I had no idea which direction I was heading in, but eventually I began to make out some high stone walls rising above the flames. At first I thought I’d gone round in circles and had somehow made my way back to the cathedral, but then I realized it was the Tower of London! I was closer to home than I had dared hope. If I could see the stone walls I must be at the very beginning of Tower Street, so all I had to do was head north and I’d soon reach Seething Lane where Master Pepys’ house stood.
    I knew that the house would be empty by now because when I’d run off in search of Pip, the servants had been packing everything up as they prepared to flee from the flames. I had no idea where they were going, either, because I hadn’t been told in all the chaos or perhaps I’d forgotten. Maybe the fire had reached Seething Lane and the house would just be a smoking ruin. But I had to go and find out – it was the only link I had with the people who were the closest I had to a family. If it was gone then I really would have nothing in all the world. No home, no friends and, worst of all, no Pip! But I couldn’t just give up and turn away. Maybe someone would come back to see if the building had survived the fire and I could ask where everyone had gone.
    As soon as I could, I turned north and began to climb up the hill that led down towards the Thames and up towards the City Wall and Aldgate. And very quickly I found myself stepping out of the burning streets and into an area that was untouched by the flames. I was amazed; I’d almost begun to expect to see blazing houses and billows of smoke, as if a city on fire was the way things normally were. Of course there was still the stink of smoke and the loud roar of the inferno, but in every other way these houses seemed safe and sound. Most of them were boarded up because the owners had fled in the belief that the fire would soon reach them. But some were still occupied. As I walked by one of the larger houses, I saw a maid cleaning the smoky grime from