How long did Steele walk after him? The distance across the city was
far; groping, occasionally stumbling, it seemed interminable now. Once
or twice Dandy Joe lost his way, and jocularly accosted passers-by to
inquire. At Seven Dials he experienced difficulty in determining which
one of the miserable streets radiating as from a common hub, would lead
him in the desired direction; but, after looking hastily at various
objects--a barber's post, a metal plate on a wall--he selected his
street. Narrow, dark, it wormed its way through a cankered and
little-traversed part of old London.

For a time they two seemed the only pedestrians that had ventured forth
that night in a locality so uninviting. On either side the houses
pressed closer upon them. Touching a wall here and there, John Steele
experienced the vague sensation that he had walked that way on other
occasions, long, long ago. Or was it only a bad dream that again stirred
him? Through the gulch-like passage swept a cold draft of air; it made
little rifts in the fog; showed an entrance, a dim light. At the same
time the sound of the footsteps in front abruptly ceased.

For a few minutes Steele waited; he looked toward the place Dandy Joe
had entered. It was well-known to him, and, what seemed more important,
to Mr. Gillett; the latter would remember it in connection with the
'Frisco Pet; presumably turn to it as a likely spot to search for him
who had been forced to leave Captain Forsythe's home. That
contingency--nay, probability--had to be considered; the one person he
most needed to find had taken refuge in one of the places he would have
preferred not to enter. But no time must be lost hesitating; he had to
choose. Dismissing all thought of danger from without, thinking only of
what lay before him within, he moved quickly forward and tried the door.