DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22217#0019
A PEDESTRIAN'S PLOT.
7
at the treasurer, tripping him up, and at the same moment
wrenching the tin box from his grasp.
None but an expert thief could have done the thing so
swiftly. The moment the box was in his possession the thief
caught sight of me making a dash towards him, and turned
and flew towards the end of the street by which he had entered.
He flew so fast that his feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground.
M'Sweeny had emerged from his hiding-place at the first out-
cry, and appeared directly in front of the flying man with his
great, strong arms extended for a bear's hug; but the flying
man, unable to check his pace, yet unwilling to be taken, merely
raised the tin box of tokens and dashed it full in M'Sweeny's
face, flattening my chum's little nose with his face, and lay-
ing him on his back on the snowy pavement as neatly as if
he had been tugged back by the hair. I paid no attention to
M'Sweeny, but flew on in the wake of the thief j but when
I turned the corner of the street into Broughton he had
vanished, I knew not in what direction. I turned back,
after a run up the brae, and found M'Sweeny sitting up on
the pavement and tenderly feeling the place where his nose
had been.
" Oh, you thickhead !" was my only remark, as I passed on
to speak to the robbed man.
"Thick, is it?" he dolefully returned. " Faix, it's a great
deal thinner than it was a minit ago."
"And you let him off, money and all/' I added, in deep
disgust.
" Begorra, if you'd felt the weight of the money, like me,
you'd wish it far enough away," he returned, busy with hi<3
handkerchief; " a steam hammer's nothing to it."
" I am happy to say that there was no money in the box,"
said the robbed man, who was little the worse of his fall. " No-
thing but a number of metal tokens used as checks at the
theatre."
"Tokens?" groaned M'Sweeny, clenching his fists. "I'd
like to give him some more."
A few words of explanation followed, which considerably re-
lieved my concern over the loss of the thief; and then the
robbed man accompanied us to the Central to report the case,
and get a look at the handwriting of the note sent us in warn-
ing. He readily recognised the note-paper as of a kind used
m the theatre, but could make nothing of the handwriting.
However, the fact that the warning had come from some one
7
at the treasurer, tripping him up, and at the same moment
wrenching the tin box from his grasp.
None but an expert thief could have done the thing so
swiftly. The moment the box was in his possession the thief
caught sight of me making a dash towards him, and turned
and flew towards the end of the street by which he had entered.
He flew so fast that his feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground.
M'Sweeny had emerged from his hiding-place at the first out-
cry, and appeared directly in front of the flying man with his
great, strong arms extended for a bear's hug; but the flying
man, unable to check his pace, yet unwilling to be taken, merely
raised the tin box of tokens and dashed it full in M'Sweeny's
face, flattening my chum's little nose with his face, and lay-
ing him on his back on the snowy pavement as neatly as if
he had been tugged back by the hair. I paid no attention to
M'Sweeny, but flew on in the wake of the thief j but when
I turned the corner of the street into Broughton he had
vanished, I knew not in what direction. I turned back,
after a run up the brae, and found M'Sweeny sitting up on
the pavement and tenderly feeling the place where his nose
had been.
" Oh, you thickhead !" was my only remark, as I passed on
to speak to the robbed man.
"Thick, is it?" he dolefully returned. " Faix, it's a great
deal thinner than it was a minit ago."
"And you let him off, money and all/' I added, in deep
disgust.
" Begorra, if you'd felt the weight of the money, like me,
you'd wish it far enough away," he returned, busy with hi<3
handkerchief; " a steam hammer's nothing to it."
" I am happy to say that there was no money in the box,"
said the robbed man, who was little the worse of his fall. " No-
thing but a number of metal tokens used as checks at the
theatre."
"Tokens?" groaned M'Sweeny, clenching his fists. "I'd
like to give him some more."
A few words of explanation followed, which considerably re-
lieved my concern over the loss of the thief; and then the
robbed man accompanied us to the Central to report the case,
and get a look at the handwriting of the note sent us in warn-
ing. He readily recognised the note-paper as of a kind used
m the theatre, but could make nothing of the handwriting.
However, the fact that the warning had come from some one