for the
horses, and thus the waste ground was not left wholly unoccupied.

"Was this cart o' yours under the sheds all night or in the open?" asked
the policeman, with an air of penetration.

"Just outside the shed, worn't it, Bill?" replied Tommy.

Bill said nothing, being a person disinclined to commit himself.

"If the cart was outside," said the policeman, "then the thing's
plain enough. You started from there, didn't you, with the cart in the
afternoon?"

"Ay," answered Tommy.

"And there was a little sprinkle o' snow in the cart?"

"May be there wos. I don't remember one way or the other."

"Then you _must_ be a stupid if you don't see that this here cove,"
pointing to the dead man, "got drinking too much last night, lost
hisself, and wandered inside the hoarding, where he fell asleep in the
cart."

"Snow do make a fellow bloomin' sleepy," one of the crowd assented.

"Well, he never wakened no more, and the snow had covered over his body
when you started with the cart, and him in it, unbeknown. He's light
enough to make no difference to the weight. Was it dark when you
started?"

"One of them spells of fog was on; you could hardly see your hand,"
grunted Tommy.

"Well, then, it's as plain as--as the nose on your face," said the
policeman, without any sarcastic intentions. "That's how it was."

"Bravo, Bobby!" cried one of the crowd. "They should make you an
inspector, and set you to run in them dynamiting Irish coves."

The policeman was not displeased at this popular tribute to his
shrewdness. Dignity forbade him, however, to acknowledge the compliment,
and he contented himself with lifting the two handles of the stretcher
which was next him. A covering was thrown over the face of the dead
man, and the two policemen, with their burden, began to make their way
northward to the hospital.

A small mob followed them, but soon dwindled into a tail of street boys
and girls. These accompanied the body till it disappeared from their
eyes within the hospital doors. Then they waited for half an hour or so,
and at last seemed to evaporate into the fog.

By this time Tommy and his mate had unharnessed their horses and taken
them to stable, the cart was housed (beneath the sheds this time), and
Bill had so far succumbed to the genial influences of the occasion as to
tear off his blue badge and follow Tommy into the _Hit or Miss_.

A few chance acquaintances, hospitable and curious, accompanied them,
int