r fyces," he returned
emphatically. "Them Scotties do take their pleasure sadly, not 'arf! Not
a blinkin' one of 'em got a bit er jollyin' left in 'em. ''Ello,
Minnie-gairl,' they s'ys to 'er wen we come in, 'who's the noo mon ye
ken?'--talkin' in their silly langwidge wot an Englishman can't
unnerstand. 'Pal o' mine,' s'ys Minnie, pert-like, 'come ter visit fer a
little time. Gen'leman's st'yin' at the Castle.'

"'Where that there wee beetie o' crrime has taken place?' puts in a
sandy-'eaded feller wiv beetling brows an' a complexion like a bit er
red granite. 'Yes,' says Minnie. 'Then better give 'im a wee drappier
ter warrm 'is freetened hearrt!'"

Dollops paused a moment, and Cleek threw back his head and gave vent to
a smothered laugh.

"You'll be the death of me yet, lad," he remarked merrily, "with your
Cockney and 'Scotch' rolled into one. But let's hear the end of the
story. What happened then?"

"They giv me a drink, Guv'nor, of very strong whisky it were, an' when I
asked 'em where it come from an 'oo made it, thinkin' I'd lay in a
bottle or two fer when we gets back ter Clarges Street, a feller wot
just come in (an' a bit tight 'e were, too) slaps me on the back and
says, 'Hoo noo, laddie? It's frae the valley, under the little brookies
and amangst th' gravel.'"

"And what did you say, Dollops?"

"I told him in good old English ter go tell that ter the marines and
stow the gaff, and he ups and larfs at me, and he says, says 'e, 'I'll
show ye if I speak the truith or no.' And then a lot o' 'em says,
'Hoots' and 'toots' and 'nah,' as though they was monkeys in the zoo,
and set up such a gabbling as you never 'eared of, and the end of it was
that ole Barmy tykes me by the arm and pushes me through the door. 'Come
from Lunnon, does yer?' he says ter me. 'Well, then, never any tellin'
but ye can gie us a han' wi' disposin' of our wares.' And with that he
ups and pulls Minnie along with him, in spite of them uvvers, and off we
goes dahn th' 'ill inter a deep sort of gravel-pit, and there--the
blinkin' thing was, sir, as large as life and twice as nateril!"

"My dear chap!--what the dickens does he mean, Cleek?" threw in Mr.
Narkom at this juncture.

"Simply what he says. And it was there, was it, Dollops?"

"It were, sir"; Dollops's tone was portentous with mystery; "and what's
more, there was that black-eyed Dago feller wiv the chase-me look and
the hearf-brush moustache, talkin' fifteen ter the dozen