HOW I CHANGED MASTERS TWICE IN TWO DAYS, AND AFTER ALL FOUND MYSELF IN
PAWN.
It was scarcely four o'clock when my lord and master arose from his
brief repose, and sallied through the rain and darkness back in the
direction of the city. He was far less anxious to salute the police now
than he had been a few hours ago. He slunk down the back streets, and
now and then darted up a court at the sound of approaching foot steps;
or retreated for some distance by the way he had come, in order to
strike a less guarded street.
In this manner he pursued his way for about an hour, till he reached a
very narrow street of tumble-down houses, not far from Holborn. Down
this he wended his way till he stood before a door belonging to one of
the oldest, dingiest, and most decayed houses in all the street. Here
he gave a peculiar scrape with his foot along the bottom of the door,
and then sat down on the doorstep.
Presently a voice came through the keyhole, in a whisper.
"That you, Stumpy?" it said.
"Yas," replied my master.
"All clear?"