who have reached a welcome resting-place on a damp and cheerless night.
They stood by the stove, warming their hands; and one of them stooped,
took up the little poker, and stirred the embers to a brighter glow.

"Been havin' a pipe, Sin?" he asked, winking at his companion. "I can
smell something like opium!"

"No smokee opium," murmured Sin Sin Wa complacently. "Smokee Woodbine."

"Ho, ho!" laughed the other constable. "I don't think."

"You likee tly one piecee pipee one time?" inquired the Chinaman.
"Gotchee fliend makee smokee."

The man who had poked the fire slapped his companion on the back.

"Now's your chance, Jim!" he cried. "You always said you'd like to have
a cut at it."

"H'm!" muttered the other. "A 'double' o' that fifteen over-proof
Jamaica of yours, Sin, would hit me in a tender spot tonight."

"Lum?" murmured Sin Sin blandly. "No hate got."

He resumed his seat on the tea-chest, and the raven muttered sleepily,
"Sin Sin--Sin."

"H'm!" repeated the constable.

He raised the skirt of his heavy top-coat, and from his trouser-pocket
drew out a leather purse. The eye of Sin Sin Wa remained fixed upon
a distant corner of the room. From the purse the constable took a
shilling, ringing it loudly upon the table.

"Double rum, miss, please!" he said, facetiously. "There's no treason
allowed nowadays, so my pal's--"

"I stood yours last night Jim, anyway!" cried the other, grinning. "Go
on, stump up!"

Jim rang a second shilling on the table.

"Two double rums!" he called.

Sin Sin Wa reached a long arm into the little cupboard beside him and
withdrew a bottle and a glass. Leaning forward he placed bottle and
glass on the table, and adroitly swept the coins into his yellow palm.

"Number one p'lice chop," croaked the raven.

"You're right, old bird!" said Jim, pouring out a stiff peg of the
spirit and disposing of it at a draught. "We should freeze to death on
this blasted riverside beat if it wasn't for Sin Sin."

He measured out a second portion for his companion, and the latter drank
the raw spirit off as though it had been ale, replaced the glass on the
table, and having adjusted his belt and lantern in that characteristic
way which belongs exclusively to members of the Metropolitan Police
Force, turned and departed.

"Good night, Sin," he said, opening the door.

"So-long," murmured the Chinaman.

"Good night, old bird," cried Jim, following his colleague.

"So-long."

The