and his wife from being
fleeced, one of the gang had set up the cry of "Pickpocket!" and had
pointed at you; and then, you know, when we fished that wallet out of
your pocket it looked a----'

'Yes,' I replied gravely; 'it certainly did.'

'He said,' went on the guard, 'that he had tried to make us understand
that it was all a mistake about you, you know, but we didn't hear
him.'

'So you told him that my friend and I were upon the S.S.?' I said.

'Why, yes; was that----'

'Never mind. What did he say about the others--the tall man with the
fez, for instance? He had a notebook and some bills in his hand, you
may remember.'

'Yes, sir, I do. Yes, he told me about him. Jumbo! but didn't you all
get into a muddle. He had a narrow escape, too--the tall man, you
know. Did you know who he was?'

I shook my head.

'Well, sir, he came very near being fleeced too. He wanted to change a
bill, it seems, and the old farmer and the other fellow--the one that
told me, you know, had both been getting some change from a man that
claimed to make a business of changing foreign paper and large bills,
to accommodate people.'

'Oh!' I ejaculated.

'Yes, sir; and this gentleman--he was a big man, you know; one of them
foreign managers, and couldn't speak very good English--was just going
to change with them, a hundred, I think he said, when somebody sets up
the cry of pickpocket, you know.'

'Yes, I know; go on.'

'Well, sir, after you was gone, of course in the crowd the real
pickpocket got off scot-free. It turned out that the farmer and him
that told me had been "done" by some sharper, and that they was just
ready to pass off on this foreigner a lot of counterfeit money.'

'Great Caesar!' I ejaculated, and then checked my hasty speech. After
all, why should I expend my breath or wrath upon this guileless guard,
who, after all, was doing me a service? and how cleverly Smug had
twisted the story, and made it serve his turn! But it must not be
repeated--if it had not been already.

'Look here,' I said in a more amiable tone, 'have you told this
affair, all or any of it, to anyone?'

'Who--me? No. Haven't had the chance. The fellow that was with me that
day was taken off next day, and I've not seen a soul I know since. I
did want to tell him.'

'It's well you did not. Look here, if you want to keep out of trouble,
you must keep perfectly dark about this matter. It's being sifted on
the quiet, and they'd take it very il