78 THE EXETER ROAD 



lurk on the inhospitable coasts of Hounslow Heath, 

 lest all on board should be cast away and utterly 

 undone. It is an odd experience to walk around the 

 great hull, half submerged — half l)uried, that is to 

 say — in the asphalt paths of the j);^rade ground, but 

 the oddest experiences must be those of the Ijoys who, 

 when they get aboard a floating ship, come to it 

 thoroughly trained in everything save ' sea - legs ' 

 and the keeping of an easy stomach when the breezes 

 blow and the surges rock the vessel. 



XII 



The village of East Bedfont, three miles from 

 Hounslow, is a picturesque surprise, after the long 

 flat road. The highway suddenly broadens out here, 

 and gives place to a wide village green, with a j)ond, 

 and real ducks ! and an even more real villao;e church 

 whose wooden extinguisher spire peeps out from a 

 surrounding cluster of trees, and from behind a couple 

 of fantastically clipped yews guarding the churchyard 

 gate. 



The ' Bedfont Peacocks,' as they are called, are not 

 so perfect as they were when first cut in 1704, for the 

 trimming of them was long neglected, and these 

 curiously clipped evergreens require constant atten- 

 tion. The date on one side, and the churchwardens' 

 initials of the period on the other, once standing out 

 boldly, are now only to be discerned by the Eye of 

 Faitli. The storv of the Peacocks is that thev were 



