"And mind," said Mr. Kidd, furiously, in reply to the laugh, "anything we
lend you is to be paid back out of your half when you get it. And, wot's
more, you don't get a ha'penny till you've come into a barber's shop and
'ad them whiskers off. We don't want no accidents."

Mr. Gibbs, with his back against the post, fought for his whiskers for
nearly half an hour, and at the end of that time was led into a barber's,
and in a state of sullen indignation proffered his request for a "clean"
shave. He gazed at the bare-faced creature that confronted him in the
glass after the operation in open-eyed consternation, and Messrs. Kidd
and Brown's politeness easily gave way before their astonishment.

"Well, I may as well have a 'air-cut while I'm here," said Mr. Gibbs,
after a lengthy survey.

"And a shampoo, sir?" said the assistant.

"Just as you like," said Mr. Gibbs, turning a deaf ear to the frenzied
expostulations of his financial backers. "Wot is it?"

[Illustration: Mr. Gibbs, with his back against the post, fought for
nearly half an hour]

He sat in amazed discomfort during the operation, and emerging with his
friends remarked that he felt half a stone lighter. The information was
received in stony silence, and, having spent some time in the selection,
they found a quiet public-house, and in a retired corner formed
themselves into a Committee of Ways and Means.