t she got up and went inside, and he heard
her bolting the door. Then a boy appeared among the pig-stys, but he
would not understand Bert's hail.

"I suppose it is America!" said Bert.

The houses became more frequent down the road, and he passed two other
extremely wild and dirty-looking men without addressing them. One
carried a gun and the other a hatchet, and they scrutinised him and his
cudgel scornfully. Then he struck a cross-road with a mono-rail at its
side, and there was a notice board at the corner with "Wait here for the
cars." "That's all right, any'ow," said Bert. "Wonder 'ow long I should
'ave to wait?" It occurred to him that in the present disturbed state of
the country the service might be interrupted, and as there seemed more
houses to the right than the left he turned to the right. He passed an
old negro. "'Ullo!" said Bert. "Goo' morning!"

"Good day, sah!" said the old negro, in a voice of almost incredible
richness.

"What's the name of this place?" asked Bert.

"Tanooda, sah!" said the negro.

"Thenks!" said Bert.

"Thank YOU, sah!" said the negro, overwhelmingly.

Bert came to houses of the same detached, unwalled, wooden type, but
adorned now with enamelled advertisements partly in English and partly
in Esperanto. Then he came to what he concluded was a grocer's shop. It
was the first house that professed the hospitality of an open door, and
from within came a strangely familiar sound. "Gaw!" he said searching
in his pockets. "Why! I 'aven't wanted money for free weeks! I wonder
if I--Grubb 'ad most of it. Ah!" He produced a handful of coins and
regarded it; three pennies, sixpence, and a shilling. "That's all
right," he said, forgetting a very obvious consideration.

He approached the door, and as he did so a compactly built, grey-faced
man in shirt sleeves appeared in it and scrutinised him and his cudgel.
"Mornin'," said Bert. "Can I get anything to eat 'r drink in this shop?"

The man in the door replied, thank Heaven, in clear, good American.
"This, sir, is not A shop, it is A store."

"Oh!" said Bert, and then, "Well, can I get anything to eat?"

"You can," said the American in a tone of confident encouragement, and
led the way inside.

The shop seemed to him by his Bun Hill standards extremely roomy, well
lit, and unencumbered. There was a long counter to the left of him,
with drawers and miscellaneous commodities ranged behind it, a number of
chairs, several tables, and