e, too; but though they went into the private bar, it wasn't
private enough for them; and when the landlady asked Ginger who'd been
kissing 'im, he put 'is glass down with a bang and walked straight off
'ome.

Sam 'adn't turned up by the time they got there, and pore Ginger took
advantage of it to put a little warm candle-grease on 'is bad leg. Then
he bathed 'is face very careful and 'elped Peter bathe his 'ead. They
'ad just finished when they heard Sam coming upstairs, and Ginger sat
down on 'is bed and began to whistle, while Peter took up a bit o'
newspaper and stood by the candle reading it.

"Lor' lumme, Ginger!" ses Sam, staring at 'im. "What ha' you been
a-doing to your face?"

"Me?" ses Ginger, careless-like. "Oh, we 'ad a bit of a scrap down
Limehouse way with some Scotchies. Peter got a crack over the 'ead at
the same time."

"Ah, I've 'ad a bit of a scrap, too," ses Sam, smiling all over, "but I
didn't get marked."

"Oh!" ses Peter, without looking up from 'is paper. "Was it a little
boy, then?" ses Ginger.

"No, it wasn't a little boy neither, Ginger," ses Sam; "it was a couple
o' men twice the size of you and Peter here, and I licked 'em both. It
was the two men I spoke to you about last night."

"Oh!" ses Peter agin, yawning.

"I did a bit o' thinking this morning," ses Sam, nodding at 'em, "and I
don't mind owning up that it was owing to wot you said. You was right,
Ginger, arter all."

"Fust thing I did arter breakfast," ses Sam, "I took that di'mond ring to
a pawnshop and found out it wasn't a di'mond ring. Then I did a bit more
thinking, and I went round to a shop I know and bought a couple o'
knuckle-dusters."

"Couple o' wot?" ses Ginger, in a choking voice.

"Knuckle-dusters," ses Sam, "and I turned up to-night at Tower Hill with
one on each 'and just as the clock was striking nine. I see 'em the
moment I turned the corner--two enormous big chaps, a yard acrost the
shoulders, coming down the middle of the road--You've got a cold,
Ginger!"

"No, I ain't," ses Ginger.

"I pretended to be drunk, same as the tec told me," ses Sam, "and then I
felt 'em turn round and creep up behind me. One of 'em come up behind
and put 'is knee in my back and caught me by the throat, and the other
gave me a punch in the chest, and while I was gasping for breath took my
purse away. Then I started on 'em."

"Lor'!" ses Ginger, very nasty.

"I fought like a lion," ses Sam. "Twice they '