her, at the same time he found means of
ministering to his own requirements. He tasted new and strange foods;
but of all his discoveries in the realm of dietetics, curried prawns
held pride of place. More than one customer looked anxiously into the
dark brown liquid, curious as to what had become of the blunt-pointed
crescents; but, disliking the fuss attending complaint, he ascribed
the reduction in their number to the activities of the Food
Controller.

When, as occasionally happened in the absence of his chief, Bindle
came into direct contact with a customer and received an order, he
invariably found himself utterly at a loss.

"Bouillabaisse de Marseilles, pommes sautees," called out one
customer. Bindle, who was hurrying past, came to a dead stop and
regarded him with interest.

"D'you mind sayin' that again, sir," he remarked.

"Bouillabaisse de Marseilles, pommes sautees," repeated the customer.

"Well, I'm blowed!" was Bindle's comment.

The customer stared, but before he had time to reply Bindle was
unceremoniously pushed aside by Giuseppi Antonio Tolmenicino, who, pad
in hand, bent over the customer with servile intentness.

"Wot did 'e mean? Was 'e tellin' me 'is name?" enquired Bindle of a
lath-like youth, with frizzy hair and a face incapable of expressing
anything beyond a meaningless grin. It was Scratcher, however, who
told the puzzled Bindle that the customer had been ordering lunch and
not divulging his identity.

"Bullybase de Marsales pumsortay is things to eat, Joe," he explained;
"you got to learn the mane-yu."

"Well, I'm blowed!" was Bindle's sole comment. "Fancy people eatin'
things with names like that." He followed Giuseppi Antonio Tolmenicino
towards the "service" regions in response to an imperious motion of
his dark, well-greased head.

When Bindle returned to the dining-room, after listening to the
unintelligible rebukes of his immediate superior, he found himself
beckoned to the side of the customer whose wants he had found himself
unable to comprehend.

"New to this job?" he enquired.

"You've 'it it, sir," was Bindle's reply. "New _as_ new. I'm in the
furniture-movin' line myself; but Scratcher told me this 'ere was a
soft job, an' so I took it on. 'E didn't happen to mention 'Okey-Pokey
'owever."

"Hokey-Pokey!" interrogated the guest.

"That chap with 'is whiskers growin' up 'is nose," explained Bindle.
"All prickles 'e is. Can't say anythink without 'urtin' 'is fee