472 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



canna manage honey." In a trice, James forked out some 

 of the biggest pieces he could find and put them on John's 

 plate. Now came the moment to solve the problem, whether 

 John had any taste in that queer, leathery-looking mouth 

 of his. If that lump of cucumber nearest his hand, so 

 green, so cold, so intensely acid, does not result in at least 

 a wry face, the thing is settled in the negative. 



Once, twice, thrice missed ; meat every time. John 

 had got on to the war, the Russo-Turkish war then raging, 

 and he was a keen " bag-and-baggage " man. James began 

 to think of doing something to help him to express himself 

 and lead to his taking the cucumber ; when lo, he spits a 

 great lump of gherkin on his fork, whole, as he lived ! But 

 no. " Confound the Turks ! " said James ; " take your 

 dinner, John, or it will be spoiled." But the exhortation 

 was unheeded. Waving his hand above his head, fork, 

 gherkin and all, John tried to give vent to his indignation. 

 As James feared he might notice the pickle there, he struck 

 in, " Quite right, John. I would sweep the last sinner of 

 them out of Europe, sweep every harem and mosque of 

 them, and sweep the very earth on which they trod sweep 

 and make such a dust till you couldn't see your finger 

 before you, and the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn were 

 coloured like clay bree ! " John held up his hand with the 

 gherkin before him, and, bringing it down firmly on the 

 table, he summed up his friend's harangue in a single 

 word, so like him " Purged ! " 



John gazed at the orator with a look of admiration, 

 and evidently satisfied that his heart was in the right 

 place, promptly popped the entire pickle into his mouth ! 

 Now came the proof that what James had taken for leather 



