'You mean coiners,' said Oswald at once. 'I wonder what the reward is
for setting the police on their track?'

Dicky thought it ought to be something fat, because coiners are always a
desperate gang; and the machinery they make the coins with is so heavy
and handy for knocking down detectives.

Then it was tea-time, and we went in; and Dora and H. O. had clubbed
their money together and bought a melon; quite a big one, and only a
little bit squashy at one end. It was very good, and then we washed the
seeds and made things with them and with pins and cotton. And nobody
said any more about watching the house next door.

Only when we went to bed Dicky took off his coat and waistcoat, but he
stopped at his braces, and said--

'What about the coiners?'

Oswald had taken off his collar and tie, and he was just going to say
the same, so he said, 'Of course I meant to watch, only my collar's
rather tight, so I thought I'd take it off first.'

Dicky said he did not think the girls ought to be in it, because there
might be danger, but Oswald reminded him that they had promised Alice,
and that a promise is a sacred thing, even when you'd much rather not.
So Oswald got Alice alone under pretence of showing her a caterpillar--
Dora does not like them, and she screamed and ran away when Oswald
offered to show it her. Then Oswald explained, and Alice agreed to come
and watch if she could. This made us later than we ought to have been,