"But," said Bindle, "couldn"t yer put me in somethin" wot sits on an "orse, or "angs on be"ind? I want to go."
"It"s no good; I cannot pa.s.s you."
"Couldn"t yer make me even a "ighlander? Me legs ain"t too thin for that, are they?"
"It"s no good!"
"Are they catchin"?" enquired Bindle, with some eagerness in his voice.
"Are what catching?"
"Various veins."
"No."
"Just my luck," grumbled Bindle, "a-gettin" somethink wot I can"t "and on."
The doctor laughed.
Finding that nothing could break down the doctor"s relentless refusal, Bindle reluctantly departed.
During the week following he made application at several other recruiting offices, but always with the same result.
"Nothin" doin"," he mumbled. "Nothin" left for me but to become a bloomin" slop. I must do somethink." And he entered the local police-station.
"What is it?" enquired the officer in charge.
"Come to gi" meself up," said Bindle with a grin. "Goin" to be a special constable and run in all me dear ole pals."
He found the interrogations here far less severe. Certain particulars were asked of him. Finally he was told that he would hear in due course whether or no his services were accepted.
After an interval of about a week Bindle was sworn in. A few days later he called once more at the police-station for his equipment. As the truncheon, armlet, and whistle were handed to him, he eyed the articles dubiously, then looking up at the officer, enquired:
"This all I got to wear? It don"t seem decent."
He was told that he would wear his ordinary clothes, and would be expected to report himself for duty at a certain hour on the following Monday.
On his way home he called in on his brother-in-law and, to the delight of Smith and the errand boy, solemnly informed Mr. Hearty of the step he had taken.
"Now look "ere, "Earty," he remarked, "you got to be pretty bloomin" careful what yer up to, or yer"ll get run in. Yer"d look sort o" tasty with me a-shovin" of yer from be"ind in me new uniform, a bit in each "and and the rest round me arm. S" long! an" don"t yer forget it. No late nights. No carryin"s on with the choir." And Bindle winked knowingly at Smith and the boy.
Bindle"s popularity among his brother special constables was instantaneous and complete. They were for the most part sent out in pairs. ""untin" in couples," Bindle called it. The man who got Bindle as a companion considered himself lucky.
If Bindle saw a pair of lovers saying good-night, he would go up to them gravely and demand what they were doing, and warn them as to their proper course of conduct.
"There ain"t goin" to be no kissin" on my beat," he would remark, "only wot I does meself. Why ain"t you in the army, young feller?"
He never lost an opportunity of indulging his sense of the ludicrous, and he soon became known to many of those whose property it was his duty to protect. From servant-girls he came in for many dainties, and it was not long before he learnt that the solitary special gets more attention from the other s.e.x than the one who ""unts in couples." As a consequence Bindle became an adept at losing his fellow-constable. "I can lose a special quicker than most chaps can lose a flea," he remarked once to Mrs. Bindle.
One night, about half-past nine, when on duty alone on Putney Hill, Bindle saw a man slip down one of the turnings on the left-hand side, as if desirous of avoiding observation. A moment after he heard a soft whistle. Grasping his truncheon in his right hand, Bindle slid into the shadow of the high wall surrounding a large house. A few minutes later he heard another whistle.
""Ullo," he muttered, "shouldn"t be surprised if there wasn"t somethink on. Now, Joe B., for the V.C. or a pauper"s grave."
Creeping stealthily along under the shadow of the wall, he came close up to the man without being observed. Just as he gave vent to the third whistle Bindle caught him by the arm.
"Now then, young feller, wot"s all this about? I "eard you. "Oly Angels!" Bindle exclaimed in astonishment, "where did you spring from, sir?"
It was d.i.c.k Little.
"I was just a-goin" to run you in for a burglar."
"Well, you wouldn"t have been far wrong," replied Little. "I"m bent on theft."
"Right-oh," said Bindle. "I"m with yer, special or no special. What are yer stealin", if it ain"t a rude question?"
"A girl," Little replied.
Bindle whistled significantly.
In the course of the next five minutes d.i.c.k Little explained that he was in love with a girl whose people disapproved of him, and she was being kept almost a prisoner in the house in question. At night he was sometimes able to get a few words with her after dinner, she mounting a ladder and talking to him from the top of the garden wall.
"One of these nights," Little concluded, "we"re going to make a bolt for it. By Jove!" he suddenly broke off. "You"re the very man; you"ll help, of course."
""Elp?" said Bindle; "o" course I"ll "elp. If yer want to be made un"appy that"s your affair. If yer wants me to "elp to make yer un"appy, that"s my affair."
At this moment there was a faint whistle from farther down the road.
"I must be off," said Little. "Come round and see me on Sunday, and I"ll tell you all about it."
The next Sunday night Bindle heard the whole story. d.i.c.k Little was desperately in love with Ethel k.n.o.b-Kerrick, the daughter of Lady k.n.o.b-Kerrick, whose discomfiture at the Barton Bridge Temperance Fete had been due to his tampering with the lemonade. Lady k.n.o.b-Kerrick had come to know of clandestine meetings, and henceforth her daughter had been practically a prisoner, never being allowed out of her mother"s sight or that of Miss Strint, who, although in sympathy with the lovers, was too much afraid of Lady k.n.o.b-Kerrick to render them any a.s.sistance.
"So I"m going to bolt with her," said d.i.c.k Little.
"And very nice too," remarked Bindle, as he gazed admiringly at the photograph of an extremely pretty brunette with expressive eyes and a tilted chin.
"Funny things, women," continued Bindle. "Yer think yer"ve got a bloomin" peach, when squash! and there is only the stone and a little juice left in yer "and. Funny things, women! She"ll probably nag yer into an asylum or the Blue Boar or--"
"Shut up, Bindle!" There was a hard note in d.i.c.k Little"s voice.
"All right, sir, all right," said Bindle patiently. "I"d "ave said the same meself when I was a-courtin" me little red-"eaded blossom. Funny things, women!
"If it ain"t rude, sir," Bindle continued after a pause, ""ave yer got an "ome ready? "Cos when yer get a bird yer sort o" got to get a cage, an" if that cage ain"t gold, wi" bits o" gold sort o" lyin" about, well, there"ll be some feathers flyin", an" they won"t be "ers. A woman wot ain"t got money makes a man moult pretty quick. Yer"ll excuse me, sir, but I"m an old warrior at this "ere game."
"I"ve bought a practice in Chelsea, and besides I"ve got between three and four hundred a year," replied Little.
"H"m," said Bindle, "may keep "er in scent an" shoe-strings. I suppose you"re set on doin" it?"
"Absolutely."