“Surely not?” said George.
“What the devil do you mean–surely not?”
“I’ve been in the cab all the time, and I should have noticed it.”
At this juncture the block in the traffic was relieved, and the cab bowled smartly on for some fifty yards when it was again halted. George, protruding from the window like a snail, was entertained by the spectacle of the pursuit. The hunt was up. Short of throwing his head up and baying, the stout young man behaved exactly as a bloodhound in similar circumstances would have conducted itself. He broke into a jerky gallop, attended by his self-appointed associates; and, considering that the young man was so stout, that the messenger boy considered it unprofessional to hurry, that the shop girl had doubts as to whether sprinting was quite ladylike, and that the two Bohemians were moving at a quicker gait than a shuffle for the first occasion in eleven years, the cavalcade made good time. The cab was still stationary when they arrived in a body.
“Here he is, guv’nor,” said the messenger boy, removing a bead of perspiration with the rush message.
“Here he is, guv’nor,” said the non-smoking Bohemian. “What oh!”
“Here I am!” agreed George affably. “And what can I do for you?”
The smoker spat appreciatively at a passing dog. The point seemed to him well taken. Not for many a day had he so enjoyed himself. In an arid world containing too few goes of gin and too many policemen, a world in which the poor were oppressed and could seldom even enjoy a quiet cigar without having their fingers trodden upon, he found himself for the moment contented, happy, and expectant. This looked like a row between toffs, and of all things which most intrigued him a row between toffs ranked highest.
“R!” he said approvingly. “Now you’re torkin’!”
The shop girl had espied an acquaintance in the crowd. She gave tongue.
“Mordee! Cummere! Cummere quick! Sumfin’ hap’nin’!” Maudie, accompanied by perhaps a dozen more of London’s millions, added herself to the audience. These all belonged to the class which will gather round and watch silently while a motorist mends a tyre. They are not impatient. They do not call for rapid and continuous action. A mere hole in the ground, which of all sights is perhaps the least vivid and dramatic, is enough to grip their attention for hours at a time. They stared at George and George’s cab with unblinking gaze. They did not know what would happen or when it would happen, but they intended to wait till something did happen. It might be for years or it might be for ever, but they meant to be there when things began to occur.
Speculations became audible.
“Wot is it? ‘Naccident?”
“Nah! Gent ‘ad ‘is pocket picked!”
“Two toffs ‘ad a scrap!”
“Feller bilked the cabman!”
A sceptic made a cynical suggestion.
“They’re doin’ of it for the pictures.”
The idea gained instant popularity.
“Jear that? It’s a fillum!”
“Wot o’, Charlie!”
“The kemerer’s ‘idden in the keb.”
“Wot’ll they be up to next!”
A red-nosed spectator with a tray of collar-studs harnessed to his stomach started another school of thought. He spoke with decision as one having authority.
“Nothin’ of the blinkin’ kind! The fat ‘un’s bin ‘avin’ one or two around the corner, and it’s gorn and got into ‘is ‘ead!”
The driver of the cab, who till now had been ostentatiously unaware that there was any sort of disturbance among the lower orders, suddenly became humanly inquisitive.
“What’s it all about?” he asked, swinging around and addressing George’s head.
“Exactly what I want to know,” said George. He indicated the collar-stud merchant. “The gentleman over there with the portable Woolworth-bargain-counter seems to me to have the best theory.”
The stout young man, whose peculiar behaviour had drawn all this flattering attention from the many-headed and who appeared considerably ruffled by the publicity, had been puffing noisily during the foregoing conversation. Now, having recovered sufficient breath to resume the attack, he addressed himself to George once more.
“Damn you, sir, will you let me look inside that cab?”
“Leave me,” said George, “I would be alone.”