granite. He is not a
policeman; if he were, a few things that disgrace the force never would
happen. If the policemen of England did their duty as our soldiers do,
at once I would have gone to them; my duty would have been to do so. As
it is, I go to our private police, who would not exist if the force were
worth a rap. Vypan, Goad, and Terryer, in spite of Goad's clumsiness,
rank second. I go to the first of all these firms, and I get their very
cleverest rascal."

Major Hockin, speaking in this hoarse whisper--for he could not whisper
gently--folded his arms, and then nodded his head, as much as to say,
"I have settled it now. You have nothing to do but praise me." But I was
vexed and perplexed too much to trust my voice with an answer.

"The beauty of this arrangement is," he continued, with vast
complacency, "that the two firms hate one another as the devil
hates--no, that won't do; there is no holy water to be found among
them--well, as a snake hates a slow-worm, let us say. 'Set a thief to
catch a thief' is a fine old maxim; still better when the two thieves
have robbed one another."

As he spoke, the noble stranger slipped off the driving seat without
troubling the cabman to stop his jerking crawl, and he did it so well
that I had no chance of observing his nimble face or form. "You are
disappointed," said the Major, which was the last thing I would have
confessed. "You may see that man ten thousand times, and never be able
to swear to him. Ha! ha! he is a oner!"

"I disdain such mean tricks beyond all expression," I exclaimed, as was
only natural, "and every thing connected with them. It is so low to talk
of such things. But what in the world made him do it? Where does he come
from, and what is his name?"

"Like all noble persons, he has got so many names that he does not know
which is the right one; only his are short and theirs are long. He
likes 'Jack' better than any thing else, because it is not distinctive.
'Cosmopolitan Jack,' some call him, from his combining the manners and
customs, features and figures, of nearly all mankind. He gets on with
every one, for every one is gratified by seeing himself reflected in
him. And he can jump from one frame to another as freely as Proteus
or the populace. And yet, with all that, he is perfectly honest to any
allegiance he undertakes. He would not betray us to Vypan, Goad, and
Terryer for your great nugget and the Castlewood estates."

"I have heard that the