Page:Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.djvu/30

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CHAPTER II

Nimrod: A Mighty Hunter Before the Lord

Mr Hunter, as he was called to his face and as he was known to his brethren at the Shining Light Chapel, or 'Misery' or 'Nimrod,' as he was named behind his back by the workmen over whom he tyrannised, was the general or walking-foreman or 'manager' of the firm, whose card is herewith presented to the reader:

Rushton & Co.

MUGSBOROUGH



Builders, Decorators, and General Contractors

Funerals Furnished

Estimates given for General Repairs to House Property

First-class Work only at Moderate Charges

There were a number of sub-foremen or 'coddies,' but Hunter was the foreman.

He was a tall thin man, whose clothes hung loosely on the angles of his round-shouldered, bony form. His long thin legs, about which the baggy trousers draped in ungraceful folds, were slightly knock-kneed and terminated in large flat feet. His arms were very long even for such a tall man, and the hugh bony hands were gnarled and knotted. When he removed his bowler hat, as he frequently did to wipe away with a red handkerchief the sweat occasioned by furious bicycle riding, it was seen that his forehead was high, flat and narrow. His nose was a large, fleshy, hawk-like beak, and from the side of each nostril a deep indentation extended

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