oked thoughtful.

"'It sounds all right, mates,' 'e ses at last, 'but I don't see 'ow
we're to go to work. I don't want to get locked up for deceiving.'

"'You can't get locked up,' ses Sam; 'if you let 'er discover you and
claim you, 'ow can you get locked up for it? We shall go in an' see her
agin, and larn all there is to larn, especially about the tattoo marks,
and then--'

"'_Tattoo marks!_' ses Ginger.

"'That's the strong p'int,' ses Sam. ''Er boy 'ad a sailor dancing a
'ornpipe on 'is left wrist, an' a couple o' dolphins on his right.
On 'is chest 'e 'ad a full-rigged ship, and on 'is back between 'is
shoulder-blades was the letters of 'is name--C.R.S.: Charles Robert
Smith.'

"'Well, you silly old fool,' ses Ginger, starting up in a temper, 'that
spiles it all. I ain't got a mark on me.'

"Old Sam smiles at 'im and pats him on the shoulder. 'That's where you
show your want of intelleck, Ginger,' he ses, kindly. 'Why don't you
think afore you speak? Wot's easier than to 'ave 'em put on?'

"'_Wot?_' screams Ginger. 'Tattoo me! Spile my skin with a lot o'
beastly blue marks! Not me, not if I know it. I'd like to see anybody
try it, that's all.'

[Illustration: Tattoo me--Spile my skin 176]

"He was that mad 'e wouldn't listen to reason, and, as old Sam said, 'e
couldn't have made more fuss if they'd offered to skin 'im alive, an'
Peter Russet tried to prove that a man's skin was made to be tattooed
on, or else there wouldn't be tat-tooers; same as a man 'ad been given
two legs so as 'e could wear trousers. But reason was chucked away on
Ginger, an' 'e wouldn't listen to 'em.

"They started on 'im agin next day, but all Sam and Peter could say
didn't move 'im, although Sam spoke so feeling about the joy of a pore
wid-der woman getting 'er son back agin arter all these years that 'e
nearly cried.

"They went down agin to the pub that evening, and Ginger, who said 'e
was curious to see, wanted to go too. Sam, who still 'ad 'opes of 'im,
wouldn't 'ear of it, but at last it was arranged that 'e wasn't to go
inside, but should take a peep through the door. They got on a tram at
Ald-gate, and Ginger didn't like it becos Sam and Peter talked it over
between theirselves in whispers and pointed out likely red'-aired men in
the road.

"And 'e didn't like it when they got to the Blue Lion, and Sam and Peter
went in and left 'im outside, peeping through the door. The landlady
shook 'ands with them quite friendl