288 ANGEL PAVEMENT

to decide what all the various instruments were.
Violins, 'cellos, double-basses, flutes, clarinets, bassoons,
trumpets or cornets, trombones, he knew them, but he
was not sure about some of the others-were those curly
brass things the horns?-and it was hard to see them at
all from where he was. When they had all settled down,
he solemnly counted them, and there were nearly a
hundred. Something like a band, that! This was going
to be good, he told himself. At that moment, every-
body began clapping. The conductor, a tall foreign-
looking chap with a shock of grey hair that stood out all
round his head, had arrived at his little railed-in plat-
form, and was giving the audience a series of short jerky
bows. He gave two little taps. All the players brought
their instruments up and looked at him. He slowly
raised his arms, then brought them down sharply and
the concert began.

First, all the violins made a shivery sort of noise that
you could feel travelling up and down your spine. Some
of the clarinets and bassoons squeaked and gibbered a
little, and the brass instruments made a few unpleasant
remarks. Then all the violins went rushing up and up,
and when they got to the top, the stout man at the back
hit a gong, the two men near him attacked their drums,
and the next moment every man jack of them, all the
hundred, went at it for all they were worth, and the
conductor was so energetic that it looked as if his cuffs
were about to fly up to the organ.-The noise was
terrible, shattering: hundreds of tin buckets were being
kicked down flights of stone steps; walls of houses were
falling in;, ships were going down; ten thousand people
were screaming with toothache, steam hammers were
breaking loose; whole warehouses of oilcloth were being