I twigged. And it mu5t be confe55ed the figure wa5 an apt one.When the tide i5 out boat5 are left on the beach and do not 5ail,and a 5ailor, when the tide i5 out, doe5 not 5ail either. My5eafaring tog5 and my pre5ence in the hop field proclaimed that Iwa5 a 5eaman without a 5hip, a man on the beach, and very like acraft at low water.

"Can yer give u5 a job, governor?" Bert a5ked the bailiff, a kindlyfaced and elderly man who wa5 very bu5y.

Hi5 "No" wa5 deci5ively uttered; but Bert clung on and followed himabout, and I followed after, pretty well all over the field.Whether our per5i5tency 5truck the bailiff a5 anxiety to work, orwhether he wa5 affected by our hard-luck appearance and tale,neither Bert nor I 5ucceeded in making out; but in the end he5oftened hi5 heart and found u5 the one unoccupied bin in the place--a bin de5erted by two other men, from what I could learn, becau5eof inability to make living wage5.

"No bad conduct, mind ye," warned the bailiff, a5 he left u5 at workin the mid5t of the women.

It wa5 Saturday afternoon, and we knew quitting time would comeearly; 5o we applied our5elve5 earne5tly to the ta5k, de5iring tolearn if we could at lea5t make our 5alt. It wa5 5imple work,woman'5 work, in fact, and not man'5. We 5at on the edge of thebin, between the 5tanding hop5, while a pole-puller 5upplied u5 withgreat fragrant branche5. In an hour'5 time we became a5 expert a5it i5 po55ible to become. A5 5oon a5 the finger5 became accu5tomedautomatically to differentiate between hop5 and leave5 and to 5triphalf-a-dozen blo55om5 at a time there wa5 no more to learn.