And the fat person from the next seat said to his friend, "I saw it comin'. The giddy fool was larkin' about like a ape." And, in the meantime, the giddy fool did not come up again.
Suddenly the flower-girl spoke. "My Gawd!" she screamed, struggling feverishly to disentangle herself from her shawl and the straps of her basket and her fringe; "my Gawd! where's all the blarsted men got to? What's 'appened to you? For Christ's sake find a man, you fools!"
The 'bus emptied itself, and men ran into each other along the roadway, and somebody ran for a policeman. So that there was a great deal of noise and bustle shorewards. But at the same time certain male persons of a much more silent and effective character made their appearance upon the barges adjacent to the April barge. They did not shout, and they did not run about much. They fetched poles and produced ropes, and one of their number climbed into the water at the end of one; and presently, after much probing and searching and jerking (and not a little swearing), they brought him up at the end of a barge-pole, with a slime concealing all of him except the sun-bonnet, which had slipped upon one side, and looked more comical than ever.
"Oh, my pore man!" cried the barge-woman, who by now was surrounded by a stimulating coterie of other barge-women.
"E's done for!" said my fat neighbour, and spat contentedly.
And the baby snatched at its mother's head, which was still covered with her husband's hat, from which a single daffodil was dangling.
In the meantime, they laid him down upon the deck of a barge, and relays of men, acting under the direction of a policeman, jerked at his arms, and pulled his legs, and pummelled his chest. But, as the fat man had said, he was done for, and these exhausting efforts only made the baby laugh. So they lifted him hurriedly, with a change of manner, as befitted a changed burden, and conveyed him to the shore, where he was placed upon an ambulance and deported.
The fat man formed himself into an impromptu committee of inspection. He returned to his friend (and my side) after a lengthy dalliance by the ambulance, and spoke as one well pleased.
"Crack in 'is 'ead as long as my 'and. 'Orrible! Never noted afore that blood 'ad such a salty smell to it. Quite sickly, ain't it? To think of it, poor fool! ... And on a day like this, too!"
And he took off his hat and sunned himself. "I'm for a drink arter all that," he added; and, his companion agreeing with him, he walked over to the tavern, in company with many other of the 'bus passengers, and the driver and conductor of that vehicle, and most of the barge-men.