atest fun of all.

"Now, then," he said, "we're a-goin' to lay low 'ere all d'y, we are.
And then come evening we're a-goin' to 'ave our beano. That red'eaded
chap wot you never see 'e'll lift you up to a window what's got bars to
it, and you'll creep through, you being so little, and you'll go soft's
a mouse the way I'll show you, and undo the side-door. There's a key and
a chain and a bottom bolt. The top bolt's cut through, and all the
others is oiled. That won't frighten you, will it?"

"No," said Dickie. "What should it frighten me for?"

"Well, it's like this," said Mr. Beale a little embarrassed. "Suppose
you was to get pinched?"

"What 'ud pinch me? A dawg?"

"There won't be no dawg. A man, or a lady, or somebody in the 'ouse.
Supposen they was to nab you--what 'ud you say?"

Dickie was watching his face carefully.

"Whatever you tells me to say," he said.

The man slapped his leg gently.

"If that ain't the nipper all over! Well, if they was to nab you, you
just say what I tells you to. And then, first chance you get, you slip
away from 'em and go to the station. An' if they comes arter you, you
say you're a-goin' to your father at Dover. And first chance you get you
slip off, and you come to that 'ouse where you and me slep' at
Gravesend. I've got the dibs for yer ticket done up in this 'ere belt
I'm a-goin' to put on you. But don't you let on to any one it's
Gravesend you're a-coming to. See?"

"An' if I don't get pinched?"

"Then you just opens the door and me and that redheaded bloke we comes
in."

"What for?" asked Dickie.

"To look for some tools 'e mislaid there a year ago when 'e was on a
plumbing job--and they won't let 'im 'ave them back, not by fair means,
they won't. That's what for."

"Rats!" said Dickie briefly. "I ain't a baby. It's burgling, that's what
it is."

"You'll a jolly sight too fond of calling names," said Beale anxiously.
"Never mind what it is. You be a good boy, matey, and do what you're
told. That's what you do. You know 'ow to stick it on if you're pinched.
If you ain't you just lay low till we comes out with the ... the
plumber's tools. See?"

"And if I'm nabbed, what is it I am to say?"

"You must let on as a strange chap collared you on the road, a strange
chap with a black beard and a red 'ankercher, and give you a licking if
you didn't go and climb in at the window. Say you lost your father in
the town, and this chap said he knew where 'e was, and if yo