They exchanged a 'Hello!' of
surprise, and after a whispered word or two en the pavement, went
in. They mounted the stairs to a bedroom which Jack occupied. When
the door was closed:
'Bill's got copped! 'whispered Bartley.
'Copped? Any of it on him?'
'Only the half-crown as he was pitchin', thank God! They let him go
again after he'd been to the station. It was a conductor, I'd never
try them blokes myself; they're too downy.'
'Let's have a look at 'em,' said Bob, after musing. 'I thought
myself as they wasn't quite the reg'lar.'
As he spoke he softly turned the key in the door. Jack then put his
arm up the chimney and brought down a small tin box, soot-blackened;
he opened it, and showed about a dozen pieces of money--in
appearance half-crowns and florins. One of the commonest of offences
against the law in London, this to which our young friends were not
unsuccessfully directing their attention; one of the easiest to
commit, moreover, for a man with Bob's craft at his finger-ends. A
mere question of a mould and a pewter-pot, if one be content with
the simpler branches of the industry. 'The snyde' or 'the queer' is
the technical name by which such products are known.
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