id the man on the pail scornfully. 'It's all bogy. You
know that empty 'ouse as they said Sweater 'ad bought--the one that
Rushton and Nimrod was seen lookin' at?'

'Yes,' replied Harlow. The other men listened with evident interest.
'Well, they wasn't pricing it up after all! T he landlord of that 'ouse
is abroad, and there was some plants in the garden as Rushton thought
'e'd like, and 'e was tellin' Misery which ones 'e wanted. And
afterwards old Pontius Pilate came up with Ned Dawson and a truck. They
made two or three journeys and took bloody near everything in the
garden as was worth takin'. What didn't go to Rushton's place went to
'Unter's.'

The disappointment of their hopes for another job was almost forgotten
in their interest in this story.

'Who told you about it?' said Harlow.

'Ned Dawson 'imself. It's right enough what I say. Ask 'im.'

Ned Dawson, usually called 'Bundy's mate', had been away from the house
for a few days down at the yard doing odd jobs, and had only come back
to the 'Cave' that morning. On being appealed to, he corroborated Dick
Wantley's statement.

'They'll be gettin' theirselves into trouble if they ain't careful,'
remarked Easton.

'Oh, no they won't, Rushton's too artful for that. It seems the agent
is a pal of 'is, and they worked it between 'em.'

'Wot a bloody cheek, though!' exclaimed Harlow.

'Oh, that's nothing to some of the things I've known 'em do before
now,' said the man on the pail. 'Why, don't you remember, back in the
summer, that carved hoak hall table as Rushton pinched out of that
'ouse on Grand Parade?'

'Yes; that was a bit of all right too, wasn't it?' cried Philpot, and
several of the others laughed.

'You know, that big 'ouse we did up last summer--No. 596,' Wantley
continued, for the benefit of those not 'in the know'. 'Well, it 'ad
bin empty for a long time and we found this 'ere table in a cupboard
under the stairs. A bloody fine table it was too. One of them bracket
tables what you fix to the wall, without no legs. It 'ad a 'arf-round
marble top to it, and underneath was a carved hoak figger, a mermaid,
with 'er arms up over 'er 'ead 'oldin' up the table top--something
splendid!' The man on the pail waxed enthusiastic as he thought of it.
'Must 'ave been worth at least five quid. Well, just as we pulled this
'ere table out, who should come in but Rushton, and when 'e seen it, 'e
tells Crass to cover it over with a sack and not t