Martin Hyde | Page 6

in a very clever fashion; which
set me wondering again what this handsome gentleman might be, who
worked a boat so well.

I hung about at the end of the garden until dinner time, hoping that they
would return. I watched every boat which came downstream, finding a
great pleasure in the watermen's skill, for indeed the water at the Bridge
was frightful; only a strong nerve could venture on it. But the boat did
not come back, though one or two other 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