9. EVACUATIONIt was the memory of the red-headed young man who had fired on us that conditioned my choice of a route to Westminster.
Since I was sixteen my interest in weapons has decreased, but in an environment reverting to savagery it seemed that one must be prepared to behave more or less as a savage, or possibly cease to behave at all before long. In St James’s Street there used to be several shops which would sell you any form of lethalness from a rook-rifle to an elephant-gun with the greatest urbanity.
I left there with a mixed feeling of support and banditry. Once more I had a useful hunting-knife. There was a pistol with the precise workmanship of a scientific instrument in my pocket. On the seat beside me rested a loaded twelve-bore and boxes of cartridges. I had chosen a shot
