CAPTAINS ALL

By W.W. Jacobs



THE NEST EGG

[Illustration: "The Nest Egg."]

"Artfulness," said the night-watch-man, smoking placidly, "is a gift; but
it don't pay always. I've met some artful ones in my time--plenty of
'em; but I can't truthfully say as 'ow any of them was the better for
meeting me."

He rose slowly from the packing-case on which he had been sitting and,
stamping down the point of a rusty nail with his heel, resumed his seat,
remarking that he had endured it for some time under the impression that
it was only a splinter.

"I've surprised more than one in my time," he continued, slowly. "When I
met one of these 'ere artful ones I used fust of all to pretend to be
more stupid than wot I really am."

He stopped and stared fixedly.

"More stupid than I looked," he said. He stopped again.

"More stupid than wot they thought I looked," he said, speaking with
marked deliberation. And I'd let 'em go on and on until I thought I had