mment, checking himself only with obvious effort. He
soon discovered, however, that if he were to make no noise he must
devote his entire attention to his work.

"Mustn't drop a bloomin' brush, or fall over a bloomin' paint-pot," he
grumbled, "but wot yer gets the sack. Rummy 'ole, this."

Once his brush slipped from his hand, but by a masterly contortion he
recovered it before it reached the ground. The foreman, who happened
to be passing at the time, eyed him steadily for several seconds, then
with withering scorn remarked in a hoarse whisper as he turned on his
heel:

"Paintin's your job, slippery, not jugglin'."

Not to be able to retort and wither an opponent was to Bindle a new
experience; but to remain silent in the face of an insult from a
foreman was an intolerable humiliation. To Bindle foremen were the
epitome of evil. He had once in a moment of supreme contempt remarked
to his brother-in-law:

"Call yerself a man, 'Oly Moses! I've seen better things than you in
bloomin' foremen's jobs!"

Mr. Hearty had not appreciated the withering contempt that underlay
this remark, being too much aghast at its profanity. Bindle had said
to his wife:

"You and 'Earty is always so busy lookin' for sin that you ain't time
to see a joke."

Bindle quickly tired of the work, and after a few days allowed it to
transpire, as if quite casually, that he was a man of many crafts. He
gave his mates to understand, for instance, that he was a carpenter of
such transcendental ability as to be entirely wasted as a painter. He
threw out the hint in the hope that it might reach the ears of the
foreman and result in an occasional change of work.

He was inexpressibly weary of this silent painting. The world had
changed for him.

"Sleepin' all the sunny day," he grumbled, "and dabbin' on paint all
the bloomin' night; not allowed to blow yer nose, an' me not knowin'
the deaf-and-dumb alphabet."

He would probably have been more content had it not been for the
foreman. He had known many foremen in his time, but this man carried
offensiveness to the point of inspiration. He had been at his present
work for many years, and was consequently well versed in the arts of
conveying insult other than by word of mouth.

He was possessed of many gestures so expressive in their power of
humiliating contempt, that upon Bindle their effect was the same as if
he had been struck in the face. One of these Bindle gathered he had
lea