Martin Hyde | Page 6

boats brought people, or goods, to the stairs of the garden beside me. I could not see into the garden; that party wall was too high.
I did not go indoors again till Ephraim came to fetch me, saying that it was time I washed my hands for dinner. I went to my room; but instead of washing my hands, I leaned out of the window to watch a dancing bear which was sidling about in the lane, just below, while his keeper made a noise on the panpipes. A little crowd of idlers was gathered round the bear. Some of them were laughing at the bear, some at his keeper. I saw two boys sneaking about among the company; they were evil-looking little ruffians, with that hard look in the eyes which always marks the thoroughly wicked. As I watched, one of them slipped his hand into a man's pocket, then withdrew it, passing something swiftly to his companion, who walked unconcernedly away. I ran out of doors at once, to the man who had been robbed.
"Sir," I said, when he had drawn away from the little crowd. "Have you not been robbed of something?"
He turned to look down on me, searching his pockets with both hands. It gave me a start to see him, for he was the bearded man who had passed me in the boat that morning. You may be sure that I took a good note of him. He was a handsome, melancholy-looking man, with a beard designed to make him look fairer than he really was.
"Robbed of something?" he repeated in a quiet voice. "Yes, I have been robbed of something." It seemed to me that he turned pale, when he found that he had been robbed. "Did you see it?" he asked. "Don't point. Just describe him to me. No. Don't look round, boy. Tell me without looking round."
"Sir," I said, "do you see two little boys moving about among the people there?"
"Yes," he said.
"It's the boy with the bit of broken pipe in his hat who has the, whatever it was, sir, I'm sure. I saw it all."
"I see," he said. "That's the coveter. Let this be a warning to you, boy, never to stop in a crowd to watch these street-performers. Where were you, when you saw it?"
"Up above there, sir. In that house."
"In Mr.Hyde's house. Do you live there?"
"Yes, sir."
"Since when? Not for long, surely?"
"No, sir. Only since yesterday. I'm Mr. Hyde's nephew."
"Ah! Indeed. And that is your room up there?"
"Yes, sir."
"Where do you come from then? You've not been in town before. What is your father?"
"My father's dead, sir. I come from Oulton. My father was rector there."
"Ah," he said quietly. "Now give this penny to the bear-ward."
While I was giving the penny to the keeper, the strange man edged among the lookers-on, apparently watching the bear's antics, till he was just behind the pickpocket's accomplice. Watching his time, he seized the boy from behind by both wrists.
"This boy's a pickpocket," he cried aloud. "Stop that other boy. He's an accomplice." The other boy, who had just taken a purse, started to run, letting the booty drop. A boatman who was going towards the river, tripped him up with an oar so that he fell heavily. He lay still where he had fallen (all the wind was knocked out of him) so that he was easily secured. The boy who had been seized by the bearded man made no attempt to get away. He was too firmly held. Both boys were then marched off to the nearest constable where (after a strict search), they were locked into a cellar till the morrow. The crowd deserted the bear-ward when the cry of pickpockets was raised. They followed my mysterious friend to the constable's house, hoping, no doubt, that they would be able to crowd in to hear the constable bully the boys as he searched them. One or two, who pretended to have missed things, managed to get in. The bearded man told me to come in, as he said that I should be needed as a witness. The others were driven out into the street, where, I suppose, their monkey-minds soon found other game, a horse fallen down, or a drunken woman in the gutter, to divert their idleness. Such sights seem to attract a London crowd at once.
The boys were strictly searched by the constable. The booty from their pockets was turned out upon the table.
"Now, sir," said the constable to the bearded man, after he had made a note of my story. "What is it they 'ad of you, sir?"
"A shagreen leather pocket-book," said the man. "There it is."
"This one?" said the constable.
"Yes."
"Oh," said the constable, opening the clasps, so that he could examine the writing on the