e good-hearted doctor that he could never pass
them without some cheering word, and never could he withstand the
beseeching look in their eyes. Within doors the prospect was hardly more
encouraging. Strong vegetable-marrows twined their branches and their
many tendrils round the table legs and the chairs; great turnips
stoutened and burst upon the stairs; spring onions bristled in the
corners of the Lord Mayor's dining-hall, while his grand piano was
completely hidden in the gorgeous festoons of mint that, unchecked, had
run a ragged riot about the place.

[Illustration: THE PUFF BAKER]

'At last, after two months of sickness, and despite every attention and
kindness on the part of the doctor, the patients began to weary of being
ill and kept to their beds for so long. The Lord Mayor was the first to
arise and, although very weak in the legs, he managed to crawl to the
top of the stairs, and looking down, beheld, to his dismay, the dreadful
state of ruin in which everything was involved. He called for his
servants as loudly as his weakness would allow him, and, obtaining no
reply, he scrambled down the stairs on his hands and knees, and
clamoured shrilly for a cut from the joint. As, of course, there was no
one to procure this for him nor, indeed, any joint from which to
procure a cut, he boiled himself an egg, and was able to survey the
scene more calmly.

[Illustration: TREATED WITH DELICIOUS JALAPS]

'Presently the aldermen crawled down one by one, then the shopmen, then
the bandsmen, and, finally, the rest of the inhabitants, disturbed by
the weeping and yells of those already arisen, struggled downstairs, and
in agony beheld the general devastation.

'Resolved not to touch another drop of the doctor's medicine, they
satisfied the cravings of their hunger, which now began to be felt, on
the wild marrows, turnips, and mushrooms that everywhere abounded, and
by degrees regained a little of their former vigour.

[Illustration: The Lord Mayor held a long council]

'The Lord Mayor and aldermen, already feeling a little more comfortable,
held a long council, at which it was decided that it would be less
expensive to burn the old town, and to build a new one on its site, than
to try and clear up the old one. It was also decided to arrest the
unfortunate doctor, whom they all now joined in accusing as the cause of
their trouble, and bring him to trial.

[Illustration: AS SOME PATIENT PREPARED HIS DOSE]

'In the c