_Cabman._ Well, _look_, can't yer? don't keep me 'ere all day--feel in yer
pockets, come!

[_The Old Gentleman makes an abortive effort to find a
pocket about him somewhere, and then relapses into
abstraction._

_Crowd._ Let 'im take 'is time, _he'll_ pay yer right enough, if you let
the man alone.

_A Woman._ Ah, pore gentleman, the best of us is took like that sometimes!

[_Murmurs of sympathy._

_Cabman._ I don't want no more than what's my own. 'E's rode in my keb, and
I want my fare out of 'im--an' I mean '_aving_ it, too!

[_Here the Old Gentleman, who seems bored by the
discussion, abruptly serpentines off again and is
immediately overtaken and surrounded._

_The E. G._ Wha' d'ye mean? 'founded 'perrinence! Lemme 'lone ... 'portant
bishniss!

_Cabman._ Pay me my fare,--or I'll have your bag!

[_Seizes bag; the Elderly Gentleman resisting feebly,
and always smiling_.

_Crowd._ Why can't yer pay the man his fare and have done with it? There,
he's feeling in his pockets--he's going to pay yer now!

[_Elderly Gentleman dives vaguely in a pocket, and
eventually produces a threepenny bit, which he tenders
magnificently._

_Cabman._ Thruppence ain't no good _to me_--two shillings is what I want
out o' _you_--a florin--'j'ear me?

_The E. G._ (_after another dive fishes up three halfpence_). Thash all
you're 'titled, to--go 'way, go 'way!

_Crowd_ (_soothingly to Cabman_). 'E'll make it up in time--don't '_urry_
'im.

_Cabman._ D' ye think I kin stand 'ere cooling my 'eels, while he's payin'
me a 'apn'y every 'arf 'our? I've got my living to earn same as _you_ 'ave!

_Crowd._ Ah, he's right there! (_Persuasively to Elderly Gentleman._) 'Ere,
Ole Guv'nor, fork out like a man!

[_The Old Guv'nor shakes his head at them with a
knowing expression._

_Cabman._ Well, I shan't let go o' this 'ere bag till I _am_ paid--that's
all!

[_Here a Policeman arrives on scene._

_Policeman._ Now, then, what's all this? Move along 'ere, all of you--don't
go blocking up the thoroughfare like this! (_Scathingly_.) What are yer all
_lookin'_ at? (_The Crowd, feeling this rebuke, move away some three paces,
and then linger undecidedly._) 'Ere, Cabman, you've no right to lay 'old on
that gentleman's bag--_you_ know that as well as I do!

_Cabman_ (_somewhat mollified by this tribute to his legal knowledge,
releases bag_). Well, _he_ ain't got no right to