things?"

"The warders have a private band of their own," said the Governor, "but
of course I couldn't allow the men themselves--"

"Lend us the instruments," said the Chief Organiser.

One of the earnest helpful friends was a skilled performer on the cornet,
the Cabinet Ministers were able to clash cymbals more or less in tune,
and the Chief Organiser has some knowledge of the drum.

"What tune would you prefer?" he asked Platterbaff.

"The popular song of the moment," replied the Agitator after a moment's
reflection.

It was a tune they had all heard hundreds of times, so there was no
difficulty in turning out a passable imitation of it. To the improvised
strains of "I didn't want to do it" the prisoner strode forth to freedom.
The word of the song had reference, it was understood, to the
incarcerating Government and not to the destroyer of the Albert Hall.

The seat was lost, after all, by a narrow majority. The local Trade
Unionists took offence at the fact of Cabinet Ministers having personally
acted as strike-breakers, and even the release of Platterbaff failed to
pacify them.

The seat was lost, but Ministers had scored a moral victory. They had
shown that they knew when and how to yield.