cauliflowers caught his
eye.

"'Ow muchee?" he inquired.

"Ten shilling," replied the Chinaman.

"Seven an' six," answered Chook, promptly.

"No fear," replied the seller, relapsing into Celestial gravity and
resuming his dream of fan-tan and opium.

Chook walked the length of the arcade and then came back. These were
the pick of the market, and he must have them. Suddenly he pushed a
handful of silver into the Chinaman's hand and began to fill his bag
with the cauliflowers. With a look of suspicion the seller counted the
money in his hand; there were only eight shillings.

"'Ere, me no take you money," cried he, frantic with rage, trying to
push the silver into Chook's hand. And then Chook overwhelmed him with
a torrent of words, swearing that he had taken the money and made a
sale. The Chinaman hesitated and was lost.

"All li, you no pickum," he said, sullenly.

"No fear!" said Chook, grabbing the largest he could see.

In the next arcade he bought a dozen of rhubarb, Chin Lung watching him
suspiciously as he counted them into the bag.

"You gottum more'n a dozen," he cried.

"What a lie!" cried Chook, with a stare of outraged virtue.

"I'll push yer face in if yer say I pinched yer rotten stuff," and he
emptied the rhubarb out of the bag, dexterously kicking the thirteenth
bunch under the stall.

"Now are yez satisfied?" he cried, and began counting the bunches into
the bag two by two. As the Chinaman watched sharply, he stooped to
move a cabbage that he was standing on, and instantly Chook whipped in
two bunches without counting.

"Twelve," said Chook, with a look of indignation. "I 'ope ye're
satisfied: I am."

When the bags were full, Pinkey was blue with the cold, and the dawn
had broken, dull and grey, beneath the pitiless fall of rain. It was
no use waiting for such rain to stop, and they quarrelled again because
Chook insisted that she should wait in the markets till he went home
with one chaff-bag and came back for the other. Each bag, bulging with
vegetables, was nearly the size of Pinkey, but the expert in moving
furniture was not to be dismayed by that. She ended the dispute by
seizing a bag and trudging out into the rain, bent double beneath the
load, leaving Chook to curse and follow.

Halfway through breakfast Pinkey caught Chook's eye fixed on her in a
peculiar manner.

"Wot are yez thinkin' about?" she asked, with a smile.

"Well, if yer want ter know, I'm thinkin' w