od Mrs. Bindle and Smith, the one very grim, the
other grinning expansively, whilst from the gloom behind, Mrs. Hearty
was heard wheezing and demanding what it was all about.

With stately and indifferent tread the camel approached, with head
poised rather like a snake about to strike. Slung over its back on
each side were notices. The one Mr. Hearty first saw read:

I'VE GOT THE HUMP
THROUGH NOT BUYING HEARTY'S VEGETABLES

As the beast swung round, the other motto presented itself:

EAT HEARTY'S LEEKS
THEY DEFY THE PLUMBER

Cheers, cat-calls, loud whistlings and the talk of an eager, excited
Saturday-afternoon crowd formed a background to the picture.

"Well, I'm blowed!" muttered Bindle, who had read the notices with
keen relish. "Well, I'm blowed! They done it in style."

The excitement was at its height when the steady pounding of a drum
was heard in the distance. As it drew nearer, the attention of the
crowd was attracted from the donkeys and the camel. Putney was in
luck, and it looked gratefully in the direction of where Mr. Hearty
stood, a shadowy form behind his double brass-rail.

Bindle recognised the tune the band was playing as that of Mr.
Hearty's favourite hymn, "Pull for the Shore, Sailor." As the band
entered the High Street, another was heard in the opposite direction.

Bindle turned into the shop and walked up to his brother-in-law, who
still stood staring at the strange and curious beasts that were
advertising his wares.

"Look 'ere, 'Earty," he said, in his most official manner, "this may
be all very well in the way of business; but you're blocking the 'ole
bloomin' 'Igh Street."

Mr. Hearty gazed at Bindle with unseeing eyes.

"These bands yours, too, 'Earty?" Bindle enquired.

Mr. Hearty shook his head in hopeless negation. Nothing was his, not
even the power to move and rout this scandalous, zoological-botanical
exhibition.

"Well, wot are they a-playin' 'ymns for?" demanded Bindle.

"Hymns?" enquired Mr. Hearty in a toneless voice.

"Yes, can't you 'ear 'em?" Bindle gazed at his brother-in-law
curiously. "Enough to blow your 'ead orf."

The first band was now blaring out its "Pull for the Shore, Sailor,"
with full force. At its head walked a man carrying a representation of
a cabbage, on which was painted:

HEARTY FOR CABBAGES

The bandsmen wore strangely nondescript clothes. With one exception
they all seemed to possess the uniform cap, that exception was a ma