"Give in? What for? I arn"t done nothing. Charge him; he"s the thief."
Don started as if the word _thief_ were a stinging lash.
Jem loosed his hold, and with double fists dashed at the scoundrel.
"You say Master Don"s a thief!"
"Silence, Wimble! Stand back, sir," cried Uncle Josiah, sternly.
"But, sir--"
"Silence, man! Am I master here?"
Jem drew back muttering.
"Charge him, I say," continued Mike, boisterously; "and if you won"t, I will. Look here, Mr Smithers, I charge this "ere boy with going to his uncle"s desk and taking all the gold, and leaving all the silver in a little hogamee bowl."
"You seem to know all about it, Mike," said the constable, grimly.
"Course I do, my lad. I seed him. Caught him in the werry act, and he dropped one o" the guineas, and it run away under the desk, and he couldn"t find it."
"You saw all that, eh?" said the constable.
"Every bit of it. I swears to it, sir."
"And how came you to be in the office to see it?"
"How come I in the office to see it?" said Mike, staring; "how come I in the office to see it?"
"Yes. Your work"s in the yard, isn"t it?"
"Course it is," said Mike, with plenty of effrontery; "but I heerd the money jingling like, and I went in to see."
"And very kind of you too, Mike," said the constable, jocularly. "Don"t you forget to tell that to the magistrates."
"Magistrits? What magistrits? Master arn"t going to give me in custody, I know."
"Indeed, but I am, you scoundrel," cried Uncle Josiah, wrathfully. "You are one of the worst kind of thieves--"
"Here, take that back, master."
"Worst kind of scoundrels--dogs who bite the hand that has fed them."
"I tell yer it was him," said Mike, with a ferocious glare at Don.
"All right, Mike, you tell the magistrates that," said the constable, "and don"t forget."
"I arn"t going "fore no magistrits," grumbled Mike.
"Yes, you are," said the constable, taking a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. "Now then, is it to be quietly?"
Mike made a furious gesture.
"Just as you like," said the constable. "Jem Wimble, I call you in the King"s name to help."
"Which I just will," cried Jem, with alacrity; and he made at Mike, while Don felt a strange desire tingling in his veins as he longed to help as well.
"I gives in," growled Mike. "I could chuck the whole lot on you outer winder, but I won"t. It would only make it seem as if I was guilty, and it"s not guilty, and so I tell you. Master says I took the money, and I says it was that young Don Lavington as is the thief. Come on, youngster. I"ll talk to you when we"re in the lock-up."
Don looked wildly from Mike to his uncle, whose eyes were fixed on the constable.
"Do you charge the boy too, sir?"
Uncle Josiah was silent for some moments.
"No! Not now!"
Lindon"s heart leapt at that word "_no_!" But it sank again at the "_not now_."
"But the case is awkward, sir," said the constable. "After what this man has said we shall be obliged to take some notice of the matter."
""Bliged to? Course you will. Here, bring "im along. Come on, mate.
I can tell you stories all night now about my bygones. Keep up yer sperrits, and I daresay the magistrits "ll let you off pretty easy."
"If there is any charge made against my young clerk,"--Don winced, for his uncle did not say, "against my nephew,"--"I will be answerable for his appearance before the magistrates. That will be sufficient, I presume."
"Yes, sir, I suppose that will do," said the constable.
"But I s"pose it won"t," said Mike. "He"s the monkey and I"m only the cat. You"ve got to take him if you does your dooty, and master "ll be answerable for me."
"Exactly," said the constable; "come along."
"Nay, but this arn"t fair, master. Take one, take all. You bring us both."
"Come along."
"If you don"t bring that there young un too, I won"t go," exclaimed the scoundrel, fiercely.
_Click_!
A short struggle, and then _click_ again, and Mike Bannock"s hands were useless, but he threw himself down.
"Fair play, fair play," he cried, savagely; "take one, take all. Are you going to charge him, master?"
"Take the scoundrel away, Smithers, and once more I will be bail--before the magistrates, if necessary--for my clerk"s appearance," cried Uncle Josiah, who was now out of patience. "Can I help?"
"Well, sir, you could," said the constable, grimly; "but if you"d have in three or four of your men, and a short step ladder, we could soon carry him off."
"No man sha"n"t carry me off," roared Mike, as Jem ran out of the office with great alacrity, and returned in a very short time with three men and a stout ladder, about nine feet long.