o the man's hand.

"You see, sir, the barrel arrived at one-thirty. No one claimed it till
about three, when a small, sickly-looking gentleman (probably a curate)
came up, and sez he, 'Have you got anything for Pitman?' or 'Will'm Bent
Pitman,' if I recollect right.' 'I don't exactly know,' sez I, 'but I
rather fancy that there barrel bears that name.' The little man went up
to the barrel, and seemed regularly all took aback when he saw the
address, and then he pitched into us for not having brought what he
wanted. 'I don't care a damn what you want,' sez I to him, 'but if you
are Will'm Bent Pitman, there's your barrel.'"

"Well, and did he take it?" cried the breathless Morris.

"Well, sir," returned Bill, "it appears it was a packing-case he was
after. The packing-case came; that's sure enough, because it was about
the biggest packing-case ever I clapped eyes on. And this Pitman he
seemed a good deal cut up, and he had the superintendent out, and they
got hold of the vanman--him as took the packing-case. Well, sir,"
continued Bill, with a smile, "I never see a man in such a state.
Everybody about that van was mortal, bar the horses. Some gen'leman (as
well as I could make out) had given the vanman a sov.; and so that was
where the trouble come in, you see."

"But what did he say?" gasped Morris.

"I don't know as he _said_ much, sir," said Bill. "But he offered to
fight this Pitman for a pot of beer. He had lost his book, too, and the
receipts, and his men were all as mortal as himself. O, they were all
like"--and Bill paused for a simile--"like lords! The superintendent
sacked them on the spot."

"O, come, but that's not so bad," said Morris, with a bursting sigh. "He
couldn't tell where he took the packing-case, then?"

"Not he," said Bill, "nor yet nothink else."

"And what--what did Pitman do?" asked Morris.

"O, he went off with the barrel in a four-wheeler, very trembling like,"
replied Bill. "I don't believe he's a gentleman as has good health."

"Well, so the barrel's gone," said Morris, half to himself.

"You may depend on that, sir," returned the porter. "But you had better
see the superintendent."

"Not in the least; it's of no account," said Morris. "It only contained
specimens." And he walked hastily away.

Ensconced once more in a hansom, he proceeded to reconsider his
position. Suppose (he thought), suppose he should accept defeat and
declare his uncle's death at once? He should lose the