Jonah

layed to their proper advantage. This was a perquisite of Jonah's, for which he was paid eighteenpence extra once a fortni

oolwasher from Botany had ordered and left on his hands; the pair of kangaroo tops that Pat Riley had ordered the week he was pinched for manslaughter; the pair of flash kid lace-ups, high in the leg, that Kat

able. But Paasch clung to it with the affection of a mother for her deformed offspring, and gave it the pride of place in the window. And daily the urchins flattened their noses against the panes, fascinated by this monster of a boot,

te. Paasch stared; but the words were a blur to his short sight, and he went inside to look for his spectacles, which he had pushed up on his forehead in order to dress the wind

ave the shop, even for a minute, lest someone should steal the contents in his absence. As he fidgeted wit

f course," rep

ss until the words came into range. What he saw brought him to a standstill in the middle

ONES, BO

neatly e

f a shoe, which the painter wa

nt he had forgotten Jonah's real name, and he looked into the shop to size up his adversary with the angry curiosity of a soldier facing the enemy. Then, through the open door, he spied the familiar figure of the hunchback moving about the shop and placing things in order. He swallowed hastily, w

vague, primeval distrust and suspicion of the deformed that lurks in the normal man, a survival o

am tram made him jump aside and miss the wheels of a b

old man, with his silvery hair and leather apron, standing

ht him his trade, and here, with a sudden sinking in his heart, he remembered that the pupil had easily surpassed the master in dexterity. Then another fear assailed him. How would he get throu

g; and day by day he counted the customers passing in and out of the old shop, but none came his way. As he stared across the street at his rival's shop, hi

ry of his boyish days returned to him, when every man's hand was against him, and he took food and shelter with the craft of an old soldier in hostile

ill the back of their credit is broken, and then transfer their sinister custom to another. Jonah recognized them with a

saw the end rapidly approaching, when he must retire covered with ignominious defeat. He would have thrown up the sponge there and then, but

on the footpath. They sauntered along, Ada stopping every minute to look into the shop windows, while Jonah, gloomy and t

id all to pieces. An' look at the price!

bsurd, was marked with a ticket bearing an enormous figure 4 in

ive bob, an' be done

nly four an' eleven," insisted

ud be dear at five

d tell yer tha

cigarette, and turned a contemptuous eye on the bales of calico, cheap prints, and flimsy lace displayed. Presently he began to study the tickets with extraordinary interest. They were all alike. The shillings in gigantic figures of red or black, and acros

ng on the door. She woke up, and instantly recognized what had happened. Ada had left the candle burning and

, Mum?" cried

bsley firmly. "'O

?" cried Jo

ire?" said Mrs Yabsley, li

fire, an' ye're tal

o' me sleep to tell me the 'ouse ain't a-fire. I'll lan

, "will yer gimme five quid o

s only answe

rds the city was astonished at the sight of a small shop, covered with huge

E U

hoes Soled

LADIES, 1/11;

usly at the shop, and went on their way. The passengers in the trams and buses craned their necks, anxious to read the gigantic advertisement before they

asch's dingy sign from wh

neatly

LADIES, 2/6;

angeable and immovable as the laws of nat

cross the ceiling. The window had been cleared and at a bench facing the street Jonah and an assistant pegged and hammered as if for dear life. Another, who bore a curious likeness to Chook, with his back to the stree

epaired, reading the morning paper as coolly as if he were taking his turn at the barber's. The thing spread like the news of a murder,

aining coins on the hazard. The calico signs, then a novelty, the fittings of the shop, and the wages for a skilful assistant, had swallowed six of his precious twelve pounds. With the remaining six he hoped to hold out for a fortnight. Then, unless the tide turned, he would throw

em below the belt in the most ungentlemanly fashion in preference to starving. But the simple manoeuvre of cutting down the prices of his rivals was only a taste of the unerring instinct for business that was later to make him as much fe

activity of the shop reassured them. One by one the customers arrived. Numbers bred numbers, and in a week a rush had set in. It became the fashion on the Road to loll in the

to do but stand at his door, staring with frightened, short-sighted eyes across the Road at the octopus that was slowly squeezing the life out of his shop. But he obstinately refused to lower his prices,

' it cannot be done cheaper without taking de b

He was travelling for his brother, he explained, who had a small factory. Jonah looked longingly, and confessed that he wanted to stock his shop, but had no money to buy. Then the travelle

e boots, an' not want the

lained that was t

ll 'em at any

to a hundred pounds, and Jonah had established a cash retail trade. Meanwhile, he worked in a way to stagger the busy bee. Morning and night the sound of his hammer never ceased,

tress the old man had turned to his beloved instrument as one turns to an old friend. But now the tunes were never merry, only scraps and fragments of songs o