The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-09

/ give goa one minute 10 make up your
mind Either you VIII tell ne without re-
serve al about it. when l VIII be as leai-
ent as l can. or I ring tie bell and give
! you into custody"
The man hesitated for moment, then
'.Sit down. sir" heNsaid. with a smile,
land make yourself comfortable / guess
| the best way Will be to make clean breast
| of it. D'you want the whole story, SIR
! u do. said 1. and then, as fresh wave
! of suspicion flooded my hitherto unsus-
pecting mind. and don't forget the incl
dent on the pier"
He had the grace to look somewhat
abashed, but. as sat down quietly. he
recovered his assurance and began his
story.
That was the first time We tried the
/ lob. sir" said he Il knew that Nero could
swim like fish. sir; seen him in the wa
| ter often and often. Well. sir. | don t
know if you read the papers much, but If
so you must have noticed that the public
never care much What a man does in tae
way of saving life but when there's an
animal in 1t, my word,s what a fuss they
make, And it's Just the same in other
things too; if a mans starved, bless your
heart. they don't care; but If he keeps a
dog and feeds it, while he's starving
Lord, don't they just come down with the
ready I'd been reading something like
that in the papers, and says I to my old
! woman, Why shouldn't We starve, and fat
ten Nero up. and let the papers hear Of
it?' says L.
a. They wouldn't hear of it, says she;
| and | don't want to starve.'
% Then it must be iife-saving. says 1.
" Whose lifc?' says she.
We'll, that puzzled US for bit; there's
lots of lives saved by dogs. you know,
Mt cd nj
thought OF getting our little girl down
from London and letting Nero save her,
but she's got a place in the fkeatre, and
the wife wouldn't hear of her giving it up
You see. If I'd gone into the water and
been saved, I'd have had to go deep and be
a long time in being saved. or the public
wouldn't care about it a bit, and / thought
l might make 1t a bit too long and not be
saved after all, which would have been a
pity, wouldn't it?'
l remained silent, and the hardened vii
lain went on
AT last / hit ION the right plan. We'd
got some of Jennie's clothes along with US.
and that night. seeing the pier was empty.
We went on with the perambulator closed.
I'd bought the perambulator special. The
fool at the gate spotted nothing. When we
got to the end l gave Nero the cap aud the
frock. and he took them in his mouth
/ glanced at the dog, and he put his head
on one side and looked back at me with his
| tongue out.
Nero could dive as well as any duck,
and I said to him. 'Deep, Nero, deep"
The dog heard the words and sprang up
wildly. but his master Gained him with
wave of the hand.
Nero jumps of ito the water and dives
and we start yelling out and you came up
and that's all clear and satisfactory, isn't
it. sir?"
why did he go on diving?' said.
HE always did, sir, until l whistIed.''
But you didn't whistle"
''Oh, yes, did. sir. You didn't notice 1t
perhaps, but he did. That's all satisfac-
tory. isn't it?"
did not commit myself. Tell me about
this business said, sternly.
The man frowned. This was none of
my doing, SIR he said. I've only Just
forgiven the missus for sending the poor
dog into the fire like that
But the skeleton?' / said, incredulous-
ly. you must have been preparing for
this fraud. for you had the skeleton ready
all the time
The man laughed: Not for this, SIR" he
said. Il got the skeleton right enough.
and I'll tell you what l meant tic do with
It. We were going back to the old place,
sir. judged the people would have just
about forgotten us. and l was going to drop
the bones out of a boat near the pier-head,
give one to Nero, say he'd found il, and let
him have a try for the rest. The people
would have remembered all about the sad
accident, then, sir, and l think We might
have had second edition of their kind
ness, even though you wouldn't have been
there. 1t was a good lay. that first one.
sir. Two hundred pounds We cleared, all
in ALL
Go on" said ], -sternly. why did you
burn the van?"
"Ah. that was an accident-a real acct
dent. sir. We never meant to burn the
van. lamp burst. or something, and
when my wife saw that 1t was all ablaze,
she sent the dog in to bring out the bag.
and angry l was with her for doing it..
THE bag?" said I. What bag?"
"a linen bag, sir, with the bones In It.
I'd taken all the wire out OF the skeleton,
you see, sir. and the bones were loose. Ne
TO brought the bag out all right and burn
ed himself a bit in doing II. Then my wife
thought she might as we'll make the best
OF a bad job so she burnt the bag and
kicked up a row, and when / came back
from the village found a crowd there and
learnt that I'd lost another child" And
he laughed outright at this.
Il see" said I; that accounts for all the
bones being found?'
Yes. SIR said he. my wife thought II
best to burn them bit, but suppose she
didn't do it enough, and that's how you
spotted us. | must say IL was smart
NO" said /. There was a number on
the skull"
He looked genuinely shocked "a num-
Der, sir? You don't say sol And to think
Of my overlooking big thing like that
Don't blame yourself 1t wasn't visible
TO the eye. 1t came out in the photograph
for some reason. l cannot tell you why;
I'm no photographer"
"Ah," said he. visibly relieved. 81
thought shouldn't have missed it. Won
derful process, photography. But l ought
TO have thought OF that, too, for l read
somewhere that that's how they discover
ed the writings on the monuments in
Egypt"
You seem to have read a good DEAL"
said /
Il have. SIR" he replied. 81 am a we'll
educated man, though / say it as shouldn't.
perhaps And now, sir you know my his
tory. What are you going to do?"
you are going to London?' said, after
pause.
Yes. sir. Must get back to business,
sir"
Business? What busness?"
"Cabinetmaker, sir. Oh. ! see, Sir; yes,
we took our summer holiday with the van,
sir. Comes cheaper"
Why did you want me to take the dog?'
He looked embarrassed for a moment;
then
We'll. SIR" said he. 81 think you'll
agree that it wouldn't have been safe to
play the game again: we should have been
caught for certainty-well, We have been
caught, in fact. Now. can't trust my wife