that to be out in a London fog was the most wonderful experience, and
I was curious to investigate one for myself.

"My friend went with me to his front door, and laid down a course for
me to follow. I was first to walk straight across the street to the
brick wall of the Knightsbridge Barracks. I was then to feel my way
along the wall until I came to a row of houses set back from the
sidewalk. They would bring me to a cross street. On the other side of
this street was a row of shops which I was to follow until they joined
the iron railings of Hyde Park. I was to keep to the railings until I
reached the gates at Hyde Park Corner, where I was to lay a diagonal
course across Piccadilly, and tack in toward the railings of Green
Park. At the end of these railings, going east, I would find the
Walsingham, and my own hotel.

"To a sailor the course did not seem difficult, so I bade my friend
goodnight and walked forward until my feet touched the paving. I
continued upon it until I reached the curbing of the sidewalk. A few
steps further, and my hands struck the wall of the barracks. I turned
in the direction from which I had just come, and saw a square of faint
light cut in the yellow fog. I shouted 'All right,' and the voice of
my friend answered, 'Good luck to you.' The light from his open door
disappeared with a bang, and I was left alone in a dripping, yellow
darkness. I have been in the Navy for ten years, but I have never
known such a fog as that of last night, not even among the icebergs of
Behring Sea. There one at least could see the light of the binnacle,
but last night I could not even distinguish the hand by which I guided
myself along the barrack wall. At sea a fog is a natural phenomenon.
It is as familiar as the rainbow which follows a storm, it is as
proper that a fog should spread upon the waters as that steam shall