224 The Island of

“Look here!” said I, ‘how about that
smell of frying ham ?”

“Tt is not ham,” he said earnestly. “It
is the porcupineapple. It is my latest and
grandest Combination—a magnificent dish
with boundless possibilities. You saw the
pig and the pineapple which Merioneth
brought me from Victoria? This is a com-
bination of the two, with many additions.
Don’t you see that this compilation of mine
will combine the delights of roast pork and
apple sauce walking about in the fields all
ready for table.”

“Hum!” I said, mad with hunger. “And
who is the strange man who came with us
in the ship?”

“He is the vegetarian,” said Menu. “He
is entirely vegetable 7

‘But the peculiarity of his gait?” I inter-
rupted suspiciously.

‘Merely a kitchen-garden gait,” explained
Menu. ‘I havea great trouble in keeping
the sheep from eating him, because his hair
is composed of grass and spring-onions.
His head is a very large potato, and has