apped, as
Rat-it-all touched him by the arm.

"No offence, Mr Nanjivell," said the Policeman coaxingly.
"But merely as between naybours, if I might advise. Mr Pamphlett is
a very powerful gentleman: or, as I might put it better, he has
influence, unknown to you or me, an' knowledge--"

"He's a very powerful skunk."

"'Beida! . . . 'Beida!" called a voice from the foot of the stairs.
'Beida, after a start of joy, answered with the Penhaligon war-whoop,
as her brother came charging up.

"Have you told him?" burst in young 'Bert, and drew back at gaze, a
foot within the threshold.

"Yes, I've told him," answered 'Beida. "No, you needn' stare so,"
she went on hurriedly, catching him on the edge of confusion.
"It'll be all right if you just answer up an' tell the truth. . . .
When we was movin' this afternoon, you an' me took Mr Nanjivell's
savin's away, the last thing--didn' we?"

"Then what have you done with them?" thundered Mr Pamphlett.

"Don't you answer him that," said 'Beida sweetly. "But answer
everything else. An' don't you be afraid of him. _I_ ben't."

"What d'ee want me to tell?" asked 'Bert, a trifle uneasily.

"Everything: 'cept you may leave out 'Biades. He's but a child o'
four, an' don't count."

"Well," said 'Bert, addressing Mr Pamphlett--and his face, though
pale, was dogged--"if 'Beida's willin', I'd as lief get it off my
mind. . . . The first thing, sir, was P'liceman Rat-it-all's comin'
to me, Tuesday evenin': an' he said to me, 'What be you doin' to
occupy yourself as a Boy Scout, now that this here coast-watchin's
off?'--"

"I didn' say 'off,'" interrupted Rat-it-all. "I didn' use no such
low and incorrect expression. My words was 'Now that this here
coast-watchin' has come to a ontimely end.'"

"I dessay that _was_ the way you put it," 'Bert admitted. "When you
starts talkin' Lun'on, all I can follow is the sense--an' lucky if
that."

"Bodmin," corrected Rat-it-all modestly. "I don't pretend to no more
than the Provinces as yet: though Lord knows where I may end."

"Get on with the story, boy," Mr Pamphlett commanded.

"Well, sir, I owned to him that I was left pretty well at a loose
end, with nothin' on hand but to think out how to do a Kind Action
every day, as is laid down in the Scout Rules: and it may come easy
enough to _you_, sir," added 'Bert with unconscious irony, "but _I_
got no invention. An' his manner bein' so friendly, I told him as
how I was breakin'