and--er--obstructin' 'Is Majesty's
enemies in the performance of their dooty."

"Oh deah, deah," said Richard. "Deah, deah, deah...."

"Do either of you know the present whereabouts of the party?" persisted
the policeman. Attacked on every side by insects, he was becoming rather
pathetic in his discomfort and indignity. His small eyes, set in red
fat, stared with uncomprehending protest; his fat busy hands were not
agile enough to defend him. He felt unsuccessful and foolish, and very
near the ground. He wished quite disproportionately to be at home with
his admiring wife in Acton.

Sarah Brown shook her head in reply, and Richard could say nothing but
"Oh deah, deah...."

"May I take your name and 'ome address, and regimental number, please,
young man," said the policeman, after a baffled pause.

"Now my address," said Richard, with genuine shame, "is a thing I
honestly can never remember. I know I've heard it; I've tried and tried
to learn it at my mother's knee. It begins with an H, I think. That's
the worst of not being able to read or write. I can describe the place
to you exactly, a house with a lot of windows, that sees a long way. If
you turn your back on the Marble Arch, and go on till you get to a big
poster saying Eat Less Meat, and then turn to your right--(pointing to
the left)--or again, if you go by air as the crow flies--or rather as
the witch flies----"

"You shall 'ear of this foolery, my fine feller," said the distressed
policeman, almost with a break in his voice. "Seein' as 'ow you refuse
information, an' this ferryman thinks fit to defy the law, I 'ave no
course open but to whistle for my mate, and leave 'im 'ere while I
telephone for a police-boat."

He raised his whistle to his lips, but before he could blow it, the
climax of this the least successful evening of his life, overwhelmed
him. A shadow swept over the party, a large flying substance caught him
full on the back of the neck and knocked him off the landing-stage into
the river.

The witch on Harold her Broomstick landed on the spot vacated by the
policeman.

"Oh, look what I've done, look what I've done ..." she exclaimed in an
ecstasy of vexation. There was no need to tell anybody to look. Five
hundred odd people were already doing so with enthusiasm. "Oh, what a
dreadfully bad landing! Oh, Harold, how could you be so careless?"

She took the cringing Harold by the mane and slapped him violently once
or twice. Richard stretc