lorin' togs, Mr. Cleek, an' a black 'at pulled
down low over one eye. Mate wiv 'im looked like a real bad 'un. Gold
rings in 'is ears 'e'd got like a bloomin' lydy, an' a blue sweater, and
sailor's breeches. Chin whiskers, too, wot were somethin like rotten
seaweed. Oh, a 'eavenly specimen of a chap 'e were, I kin tell you!"

"On the Saltfleet Road, eh?" interposed Cleek, rapidly, as the boy paused
a moment for breath. "So? My midnight friend is doubtless sailing for
foreign parts, as the safest place when coroner's evidence begins to get
too hot for him. And what then, Dollops?"

"Couldn't find out much else, Mr. Cleek, 'cept to trace the place where
the beggar 'angs out, and that's a bit of a shanty just off Saltfleet
Bay, an' a stone's throw from what looks ter me very like a boat-factory
of some kind. Reckon the chap's employed there, as, from a casual chat
wiv a sailorin' Johnny in the bar parlour of the 'Pig and Whistle', where
I wuz a-linin' of me empty stummick (detectin' is that 'ungry work, sir!)
wiv a sossage an' a pint o' four-and-er-'arf, this feller tells me that
pretty near everyone around here works there. I arsked 'im wot they did,
an' 'e says, 'Make boats an' fings, with now an' agin a little flurry in
shippin' ter break the monotony.'... Anyway, I traced the devil wot
nearly got _you_, Guv'nor, and _that's_ somefing. And if I don't give 'im
a taste of the 'appy 'ereafter, well, my name's not Dollops."

Cleek laughed and laid a hand upon the lad's shoulder.

"You've done a lot toward unravelling the mystery, Dollops, my lad,"
he said. "A regular right-hand man you are, eh, Mr. Narkom? This
evening we'll hie us to the Saltfleet Road and see what further the 'Pig
and Whistle' can reveal to us. It'll be like the old times of the
'Twisted-Arm' days, boy, where every second held its own unknown and
certain danger. Give us an appetite for our breakfast, eh?"

He laughed again, a happy, schoolboyish laugh which brought a positively
shocked expression to Mr. Narkom's round face.

"My dear Cleek!" he expostulated. "Really, one might think that you
actually enjoyed this sort of thing! One of these fine days, if you're
not careful, you'll be caught napping, and it'll take all Dollops's
and my ingenuity to get you out of the clutches. I do beg of you to be
careful--for Ailsa's sake, if not for mine."

At mention of the name, for a second the whole look upon Cleek's face
altered. Something came into his eyes