Light Freights | Page 9

stop 'im too soon, put 'is 'ead over the 'edge and asked 'im
the same thing.
"'Ask no questions and you'll 'ear no lies, and keep your ugly face your
own side of the 'edge,' ses Bill. 'Take it indoors and frighten the
children with,' he ses. 'I don't want it staring at me.'
"Henery walked off offended, and Bill went on with his digging. He
wouldn't go to work, and 'e 'ad his breakfast in the garden, and his wife
spent all the morning in the front answering the neighbours' questions

and begging of 'em to go in and say something to Bill. One of 'em did
go, and came back a'most directly and stood there for hours telling
diff'rent people wot Bill 'ad said to 'er, and asking whether 'e couldn't
be locked up for it.
"By tea-time Bill was dead-beat, and that stiff he could 'ardly raise 'is
bread and butter to his mouth. Several o' the chaps looked in in the
evening, but all they could get out of 'im was, that it was a new way o'
cultivating 'is garden 'e 'ad just 'eard of, and that those who lived the
longest would see the most. By night-time 'e'd nearly finished the job,
and 'is garden was just ruined.
"Afore people 'ad done talking about Bill, I'm blest if Peter Smith didn't
go and cultivate 'is garden in exactly the same way. The parson and 'is
wife was away on their 'oliday, and nobody could say a word. The
curate who 'ad come over to take 'is place for a time, and who took the
names of people for the Flower Show, did point out to 'im that he was
spoiling 'is chances, but Peter was so rude to 'im that he didn't stay long
enough to say much.
"When Joe Gubbins started digging up 'is garden people began to think
they were all bewitched, and I went round to see Henery Walker to tell
'im wot a fine chance 'e'd got, and to remind 'im that I'd put another
ninepence on 'im the night before. All 'e said was, 'More fool you,' and
went on digging a 'ole in his garden big enough to put a 'ouse in.
"In a fortnight's time there wasn't a garden worth looking at in the place,
and it was quite clear there'd be no Flower Show that year, and of all
the silly, bad-tempered men in the place them as 'ad dug up their pretty
gardens was the wust.
"It was just a few days before the day fixed for the Flower Show, and I
was walking up the road when I see Joe and Henery Walker and one or
two more leaning over Bob Pretty's fence and talking to 'im. I stopped,
too, to see what they were looking at, and found they was watching
Bob's two boys a-weeding of 'is garden. It was a disgraceful, untidy sort
of place, as I said before, with a few marigolds and nasturtiums, and
sich-like put in anywhere, and Bob was walking up and down smoking

of 'is pipe and watching 'is wife hoe atween the plants and cut off dead
marigold blooms.
"'That's a pretty garden you've got there, Bob,' ses Joe, grinning.
"I've seen wuss,' ses Bob.
"'Going in for the Flower Show, Bob?' ses Henery, with a wink at us.
"'O' course I am,' ses Bob 'olding 'is' ead up; 'my marigolds ought to
pull me through,' he ses.
"Henery wouldn't believe it at first, but when he saw Bob show 'is
missus 'ow to pat the path down with the back o' the spade and hold the
nails for 'er while she nailed a climbing nasturtium to the fence, he
went off and fetched Bill Chambers and one or two others, and they all
leaned over the fence breathing their 'ardest and a-saying of all the
nasty things to Bob they could think of.
"'It's the best-kep' garden in the place,' ses Bob. 'I ain't afraid o' your
new way o' cultivating flowers, Bill Chambers. Old-fashioned ways
suit me best; I learnt 'ow to grow flowers from my father.'
"'You ain't 'ad the cheek to give your name in, Bob?' ses Sam Jones,
staring.
"Bob didn't answer 'im. Tick those bits o' grass out o' the path, old gal,'
he ses to 'is wife; 'they look untidy, and untidiness I can't abear.'
"He walked up and down smoking 'is pipe and pretending not to notice
Henery Walker, wot 'ad moved farther along the fence, and was staring
at some drabble-tailed-looking geraniums as if 'e'd seen 'em afore but
wasn't quite sure where.
"'Admiring my geraniums, Henery?' ses Bob at last.
"'Where'd you get 'em?' ses Henery, 'ardly able to speak.
"'My florist's,' ses Bob, in a off-hand manner.

"'Your