Bill Rann called for Josh early the next morning, and they strolled down
Old Jago Street in close communion.
'Are you on for a job?' asked Bill. ''Cos I got one cut an' dried--a
topper, an' safe as 'ouses.'
'Wot sort o' job's this?'
'Wy a bust--unless we can screw it.'
This meant a breaking-in, with a possibility of a quieter entrance by
means of keys. It was unpleasantly suggestive of Josh's last exploit,
but he answered: 'Awright. Depends, o' course.'
'O, it's a good un.' Bill Rann grinned for no obvious reason, and
slapped his leg to express rapturous amusement. 'It's a good un--you can
take yer davy o' that. I bin a thinkin' about it for a fortnight, but
it wants two. Damme, it's nobby!' And Bill Rann grinned again, and made
two taps of a step-dance. 'Wotjer think,' he pursued, suddenly serious,
'wotjer think o' screwin' a fence?'
It was a novel notion, but in Josh's mind, at first flush, it seemed
unsportmanlike. 'Wot fence?' asked Josh.
Bill Rann's grin burst wide again. He bent low, with outstretched chin,
and stuck his elbows out as he answered: 'Wy, ole Weech!'
Josh bared his teeth--but with no smile--looking sharply in the other's
upturned face. Bill Rann, bent nearly double, and with hands in pockets,
flapped his arms in the manner of wings, chuckled aloud, and, jerking
his feet back and forth, went elaborately through the first movement of
the gallows-flap. 'Eh? eh?' said he. ''Ow's that strike ye, ole cock?'
Josh answered not, but his parted lips stretched wide, and his
tongue-tip passed quickly over them while he thought.
'It'll be a fair cop for 'im,' Bill pursued, eagerly. ''E's treated us
all pretty mean, one time or other. Wy, I bet 'e _owes_ us fifty quid
atween us, wot with all the times 'e's squeeged us for a bit. It'll on'y
be goin' to bring away our own stuff!'
'G-r-r-r!' Josh growled, glaring fiercely; 'it was 'im as put me away
for my laggin'! Bleed'n' swine!'
Bill Rann stopped, surprised. 'Wot--'im?' he exclaimed. 'Ole Weech
narked ye? 'Owjer know that?'
Josh told the tale of his negotiations in the matter of the Mogul's
watch, and described Weech's terror at sight of his dash at the
shop-door. 'I'm on,' said Josh in conclusion. 'It's one way o' payin'
'im, an' it'll bring a bit in. On'y _'e_ better not show 'isself w'ile
I'm abaat! _'E_ wouldn't git auf with a punch on the chin, like the
bloke at 'Ighbury!' Josh Perrott ended with a tigerish snarl and a white
spot at the curl of each of his nostrils.
'Blimy!' said Bill Rann; 'an' so it was 'im, was it? I often wondered
'oo you meant. Well, flimpin' 'im's the best way. Won't 'e sing a
bleed'n' 'ymn w'en 'e finds 'is stuff weeded!' Bill flung back his
head, and laughed again. 'But there,--let's lay it out.' And the two men
fell to the discussion of methods.
Weech's back-fence was to be his undoing. It was the obvious plan. The
front shutters were impracticable in such a place as Meakin Street; but
the alleys in the rear were a perfect approach. Bill Rann had surveyed
the spot attentively, and, after expert consideration, he had selected
the wash-house window as the point of entrance. Old boxes and
packing-wood littered the yard, and it would be easy to mount a selected
box, shift the catch of the little window, and wriggle in, feet first,
without noise. True, the door between the wash-house and the other rooms
might be fastened, but it could be worked at under cover; and Bill Rann
had a belief that there must be a good deal of 'stuff' in the wash-house
itself. There would be nobody in the house but Weech, because the
wretched old woman, who swept the floors and cooked bloaters, was sent
away at night; so that every room must be unoccupied but one.
As for tools, Josh had none, but Bill Rann undertook to provide them;
and in the matter of time it was considered that that same night would
be as good as any. It would be better than most, in fact, for it was
Wednesday, and Bill Rann had observed that Mr Weech went to the bank in
High Street, Shoreditch, pretty regularly on Thursday mornings.
This day also Mr Weech kept a careful watch for Josh Perrott, but saw
him not.