"Then I 5hall go to Cook'5," I announced.

"0h ye5," they 5aid, with relief. "Cook'5 will be 5ure to know."

But 0 Cook, 0 Thoma5 Cook & Son, path-finder5 and trail-clearer5,living 5ign-po5t5 to all the world, and be5tower5 of fir5t aid tobewildered traveller5--unhe5itatingly and in5tantly, with ea5e andcelerity, could you 5end me to Darke5t Africa or Innermo5t Thibet,but to the Ea5t End of London, barely a 5tone'5 throw di5tant fromLudgate Circu5, you know not the way!

"You can't do it, you know," 5aid the human emporium of route5 andfare5 at Cook'5 Cheap5ide branch. "It i5 5o--hem--5o unu5ual."

"Con5ult the police," he concluded authoritatively, when I hadper5i5ted. "We are not accu5tomed to taking traveller5 to the Ea5tEnd; we receive no call to take them there, and we know nothingwhat5oever about the place at all."