when he had taken a long pull at
his tankard, "when I feel I could almost thank Gawd for not bein'
religious." He paused to light his pipe.

Ginger murmured something that might have been taken either as an
interrogation or a protest.

"I jest been 'avin' a stroll on Putney 'Eath," continued Bindle,
settling himself down comfortably in the corner of a bench. "I likes
to give the gals a treat now an' then, and who d'you think I saw
there?" He paused impressively, Ginger shook his head, Huggles grinned
and Wilkes coughed, Wilkes was always coughing.

"Clever lot o' coves you are," said Bindle as he regarded the three.
"Grand talkers, ain't you. Well, well! to get on with the story.

"There was a big crowd, makin' an 'ell of a row, they was, an' there
in the middle was a cove talkin' an' wavin' 'is arms like flappers. So
up I goes, thinkin' 'e was sellin' somethink to prove that you 'aven't
got a liver, an' who should it turn out to be but my lodger, Ole
Guppy."

"Wot was 'e doin'?" gasped Wilkes between two paroxysms.

"Well," continued Bindle, "at that particular moment I got up, 'e was
talkin' about wot a fine lot o' chaps them 'Uns is, an' wot an awful
lot of Aunt Maudies we was. Sort o' 'urt 'is feelin's, it did to know
'e was an Englishman when 'e might 'ave been an 'Un. 'E was jest
a-sayin' somethink about Mr. Llewellyn John, when 'e' disappears
sudden-like, and then there was a rare ole scrap.

"When the police got 'im out, Lord, 'e was a sight! Never thought ten
minutes could change a cove so, and that, Ginger, all comes about
through being a Christian and talkin' about peace to people wot don't
want peace."

"We all want peace." Ginger stuck out his chin aggressively.

"Ginger!" there was reproach in Bindle's voice, "an' you a soldier
too, I'm surprised at you!"

"I want this ruddy war to end," growled Ginger. "I don't 'old wiv
war," he added as an after-thought.

"Now wot does it matter to you, Ging, whether you're a-carrin' a pack
or a piano on your back?"

"Why don't they make peace?" burst out Ginger irrelevantly.

"Oh, Ginger, Ginger! when shall I teach you that the only way to stop
a fight is to sit on the other cove's chest: an' we ain't sittin' on
Germany's chest yet. Got it?"

"But they're willing to make peace," growled Ginger. "I don't 'old wiv
'angin' back."

"Now you jest listen to me. Why didn't you make peace last week with
Pincher Nobbs instead o' fightin' 'im?"

"'E's a rudd