These two led the procession.

It halted at the corner, where the Colonel began to read his _Argus_ notice to Bela Bedford, our druggist, who had been on the point of entering his store.

But the newspaper had suffered.

It was damp from being laid on bars, and parts of it were in tatters.

The reader paused, midway of the first paragraph, to piece a tear across the column, and Bedford escaped by dashing into his store.