t, and found the remainder of the cloth in his house."

"Capital," exclaimed Tipps, "that was smartly managed. And, by the way,
wasn't there something about a case of stealing muffs and boas lately?"

"Yes, and we got hold of that thief too, the day before yesterday,"
replied Mr Sharp. "I felt sure, from the way in which the theft was
committed, that it must be one of our own men, and so it turned out. He
had cut open a bale and taken out several muffs and boas of first-rate
sable. One set of 'em he gave to his sweetheart, who was seen wearing
them in church on Sunday. I just went to her and said I was going to
put a question to her, and warned her to speak the truth, as it would be
worse for all parties concerned if she attempted to deceive me. I then
asked her if she had got the muff and boa from Jim Croydon, the porter.
She blushed scarlet, and admitted it at once, but said, poor thing, that
she had no idea they had been stolen, and I believe her. This case
occurred just after I had watched the milk-truck the other night for
three hours, and found that the thief who had been helping himself to it
every morning for some weeks past was the watchman at the station."

"I fear there are a great many bad fellows amongst us," said Tipps,
shaking his head.

"You are quite mistaken," replied the superintendent. "There _were_ a
good many bad fellows, but I flatter myself that there are very few
_now_ in proportion to the number of men on the line. We are constantly
winnowing them out, purifying the ore, as it were, so that we are
gradually getting rid of all the dross, and leaving nothing but sterling
metal on the line. Why, Mr Tipps, you surely don't expect that
railways are to be exempted from black sheep any more than other large
companies. Just look at the army and navy, and see what a lot of
rascals have to be punished and drummed out of the service every now and
then. Same everywhere. Why, when I consider that we employ over twenty
thousand men and boys, and that these men and boys are tempted, more
almost than any other class of people, by goods lying about constantly
in large quantities in the open air, and in all sorts of lonely and
out-of-the-way places, my surprise is that our bad men are so few. No
doubt we shall always have one or two prowling about, and may
occasionally alight on a nest of 'em, but we shall manage to keep 'em
down--to winnow them out faster, perhaps, than they come in. I am just