A little after midnight the full force of the gale3 was blowing. The snow fell in powder so fine that it was almost imperceptible, but gradually the mass deepened until at daybreak it lay some eighteen inches in the streets. Some of the thoroughfares facing the wind were swept bare as a newly reaped field, in others the drifts were four or five feet in height.
A tearing, roaring, blighting4 wind was still blowing as the grey day struggled in. The fine snow still tinkled6 against glass and brick. By nine o'clock hundreds of telephone wires were broken. The snow and the force of the wind had torn them away bodily. As far as could be ascertained7 at present the same thing had happened to the telegraphic lines. At eleven o'clock nothing beyond local letters had been delivered, and the postal8 authorities notified that no telegrams could be guaranteed in any direction outside the radius9. There was nothing from the Continent at all.
Still, there appeared to be no great cause for alarm. The snow must cease presently. There was absolutely no business doing in the City, seeing that three-fourths of the suburban10 residents had not managed to reach London by two o'clock. An hour later it became generally known that no main line train had been scheduled at a single London terminus since midday.
Deep cuttings and tunnels were alike rendered impassable by drifted snow.
But the snow would cease presently; it could not go on like this. Yet when dusk fell it was still coming down in the same grey whirling powder.
That night London was as a city of the dead. Except where the force of the gale had swept bare patches, the drifts were high—so high in some cases that they reached to the first floor windows. A half-hearted attempt had been made to clear the roadways earlier in the day, but only two or three main roads running north and south, and east and west were at all passable.
Meanwhile the gripping frost never abated11 a jot12. The thermometer stood steadily13 at 15° below freezing even in the forenoon; the ordinary tweed clothing of the average Briton was sorry stuff to keep out a wind like that. But for the piercing draught14 the condition of things might have been tolerable. London had experienced colder weather so far as degrees went, but never anything that battered15 and gripped like this. And still the fine white powder fell.
After dark, the passage from one main road to another was a real peril16. Belated stragglers fought their way along their own streets without the slightest idea of locality, the dazzle of the snow was absolutely blinding. In sheltered corners the authorities had set up blazing fires for the safety of the police and public. Hardly a vehicle had been seen in the streets for hours.
At the end of the first four and twenty hours the mean fall of snow had been four feet. Narrow streets were piled up with the white powder. Most of the thoroughfares on the south side of the Strand17 were mere18 grey ramparts. Here and there people could be seen looking anxiously out of upper windows and beckoning19 for assistance. Such was the spectacle that London presented at daybreak on the second day.
It was not till nearly midday of the 26th of January that the downfall ceased. For thirty-six hours the gale had hurled20 its force mercilessly over London. There had been nothing like it in the memory of man, nothing like it on record. The thin wrack21 of cloud cleared and the sun shone down on the brilliant scene.
A strange, still, weird22 London. A white deserted23 city with a hardy24 pedestrian here and there, who looked curiously25 out of place in a town where one expects to see the usual toiling26 millions. And yet the few people who were about did not seem to fit into the picture. The crunch27 of their feet on the crisp snow was an offence, the muffled28 hoarseness29 of their voices jarred.
London woke uneasily with a sense of coming disaster. By midday the continuous frost rendered the snow quite firm enough for traffic. The curious sight of people climbing out of their bedroom windows and sliding down snow mountains into the streets excited no wonder. As to the work-a-day side of things that was absolutely forgotten. For the nonce Londoners were transformed into Laplanders, whose first and foremost idea was food and warmth.
So far as could be ascertained the belt of the blizzard30 had come from the East in a straight line some thirty miles wide. Beyond St. Albans there was very little snow, the same remark applying to the South from Redhill. But London itself lay in the centre of a grip of Arctic, ice-bound country, and was almost as inaccessible31 to the outside world as the North Pole itself.
There was practically no motive32 power beyond that of the underground railways, and most of the lighting5 standards had been damaged by the gale; last calamity of all, the frost affected33 the gas so that evening saw London practically in darkness.
But the great want of many thousands was fuel. Coal was there at the wharfs34, but getting it to its destination was quite another thing. It was very well for a light sleigh and horse to slip over the frozen snow, but a heavily laden35 cart would have found progression an absolute impossibility. Something might have been done with the electric trams, but all overhead wires were down.
In addition to this, the great grain wharfs along the Thames were very low. Local contractors36 and merchants had not been in the least frightened by the vagaries37 of Mr. Silas X. Brett; they had bought "short," feeling pretty sure that sooner or later their foresight38 would be rewarded.
Therefore they had been trading from hand to mouth. The same policy had been pursued by the small "rings" of wholesale39 meat merchants who supply pretty well the whole of London with flesh food. The great majority of the struggling classes pay the American prices and get American produce, an enormous supply of which is in daily demand.
Here Silas X. Brett had come in again. Again the wholesale men had declined to make contracts except from day to day.
Last and worst of all, the Thames—the chief highway for supplies—was, for the only time in the memory of living man, choked with ice below Greenwich.
London was in a state of siege as close and gripping as if a foreign army had been at her gates. Supplies were cut off, and were likely to be for some days to come.
The price of bread quickly advanced to ninepence the loaf, and it was impossible to purchase the cheapest meat under two shillings per pound. Bacon and flour, and such like provisions, rose in a corresponding ratio; coal was offered at ￡2 per ton, with the proviso that the purchaser must fetch it himself.
Meanwhile, there was no cheering news from the outside—London seemed to be cut off from the universe. It was as bad as bad could be, but the more thoughtful could see that there was worse to follow.
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1
abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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3
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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4
blighting
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| 使凋萎( blight的现在分词 )； 使颓丧； 损害； 妨害 | |
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5
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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6
tinkled
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| （使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出 | |
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7
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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9
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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10
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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11
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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12
jot
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| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
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13
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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14
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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15
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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20
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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21
wrack
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| v.折磨；n.海草 | |
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22
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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23
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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26
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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27
crunch
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| n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声 | |
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28
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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29
hoarseness
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| n.嘶哑， 刺耳 | |
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30
blizzard
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| n.暴风雪 | |
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31
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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wharfs
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| 码头，停泊处 | |
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35
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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contractors
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| n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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37
vagaries
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| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
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38
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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39
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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