"Oh!" ses Peter, without looking up from 'is paper. "Was it a little
boy, then?" ses Ginger.

"No, it wasn't a little boy neither, Ginger," ses Sam; "it was a couple
o' men twice the size of you and Peter here, and I licked 'em both. It
was the two men I spoke to you about last night."

"Oh!" ses Peter agin, yawning.

"I did a bit o' thinking this morning," ses Sam, nodding at 'em, "and I
don't mind owning up that it was owing to wot you said. You was right,
Ginger, arter all."

"Fust thing I did arter breakfast," ses Sam, "I took that di'mond ring to
a pawnshop and found out it wasn't a di'mond ring. Then I did a bit more
thinking, and I went round to a shop I know and bought a couple o'
knuckle-dusters."

"Couple o' wot?" ses Ginger, in a choking voice.

"Knuckle-dusters," ses Sam, "and I turned up to-night at Tower Hill with
one on each 'and just as the clock was striking nine. I see 'em the
moment I turned the corner--two enormous big chaps, a yard acrost the
shoulders, coming down the middle of the road--You've got a cold,
Ginger!"

"No, I ain't," ses Ginger.

"I pretended to be drunk, same as the tec told me," ses Sam, "and then I
felt 'em turn round and creep up behind me. One of 'em come up behind