CHAPTER XIX
ON THE COP
It was at a bend of the river-wall by the Lea, in sight of Kemp's Wharf,that Dan Ogle and his sister met at last. Dan had about as much regardfor her as she had for him, and the total made something a long wayshort of affection. But common interests brought them together. Mrs.Grimes had told Mag that she knew of something that would put money inDan's pocket; and, as money was just what Dan wanted in his pocket, hewas ready to hear what his sister had to tell: more especially as itseemed plain that she was unaware--exactly--of the difficulty that hadsent him into hiding.
So, instructed by Mag, she came to the Cop on a windy morning, where,from the top of the river-wall, one might look east over the AbbeyMarsh, and see an unresting and unceasing press of grey and mottledcloud hurrying up from the flat horizon to pass overhead, and vanish inthe smoke of London to the West. Mrs. Grimes avoided the wharf; for shesaw no reason why her brother-in-law, her late employer's faithfulservant, should witness her errand. She climbed the river-wall at aplace where it neared the road at its Bromley end, and thence she walkedalong the bank-top.
Arrived where it made a sharp bend, she descended a little way on theside next the river, and there waited. Dan, on the look-out from hisshed, spied her be-ribboned bonnet from afar, and went quietly andhastily under shelter of the river-wall toward where she stood. Comingbelow her on the tow-path, he climbed the bank, and brother and sisterstood face to face; unashamed ruffianism looking shabby respectabilityin the eyes.
"Umph," growled Dan. "So 'ere y'are, my lady."
"Yes," the woman answered, "'ere I am; an' there you are--a nicerespectable sort of party for a brother!"
"Ah, ain't I? If I was as respectable as my sister I might get a job upat the Hole in the Wall, mightn't I? 'Specially as I 'ear as there's avacancy through somebody gettin' the sack over a cash-box!"
Mrs. Grimes glared and snapped. "I s'pose you got that from 'im," shesaid, jerking her head in the direction of the wharf. "Well, I ain'tcome 'ere to call names--I come about that same cash-box; at any rate Icome about what's in it.... Dan, there's a pile o' bank notes in thatbox, that don't belong to Cap'en Nat Kemp no more'n they belong to youor me! Nor as much, p'raps, if you'll put up a good way o' gettin' at'em!"
"You put up a way as wasn't a good un, seemin'ly," said Dan. "'Ow d'yemean they don't belong to Kemp?"
"There was a murder at the Hole in the Wall; a week ago."
"Eh?" Dan's jaw shut with a snap, and his eye was full of sharp inquiry.
"A man was stabbed against the bar-parlour door, an' the one as did itgot away over the river. One o' the two dropped a leather pocket-bookfull o' notes, an' the kid--Kemp's grandson--picked it up in the rushwhen nobody see it. I see it, though, afterward, when the row was over.I peeped from the stairs, an' I see Kemp open it an' take outnotes--bunches of 'em--dozens!"
"Ah, you did, did ye?" Dan observed, staring hard at his sister."Bunches o' bank notes--dozens. See a photo, too? Likeness of a womanan' a boy? 'Cos it was there."
Mrs. Grimes stared now. "Why, yes," she said. "But--but 'ow do you cometo know? Eh?... Dan!... Was you--was you----"
"Never mind whether I was nor where I was. If it 'adn't been for you I'da had them notes now, safe an' snug, 'stead o' Cap'en Nat. You lost methem!"
"I did?"
"Yes, you. Wouldn't 'ave me come to the Hole in the Wall in case Cap'enNat might guess I was yer brother--bein' so much like ye! Like you!G-r-r-r! 'Ope I ain't got a face like that!"
"Ho yes! You're a beauty, Dan Ogle, ain't ye? But what's all that to dowith the notes?" Mrs. Grimes's face was blank with wonder and doubt, butin her eyes there was a growing and hardening suspicion. "What's allthat to do with the notes?"
"It's all to do with 'em. 'Cos o' that I let another chap bring a watchto sell, 'stead o' takin' it myself. An' 'e come back with a fine taleabout Cap'en Nat offerin' to pay 'igh for them notes; an' so I was foolenough to let 'im take them too, 'stead o' goin' myself. But I watched'im, though--watched 'im close. 'E tried to make a bolt--an'--an' soCap'en Nat got the notes after all, it seems, then?"
"Dan," said Mrs. Grimes retreating a step; "Dan, it was you! It was you,an' you're hiding for it!"
The man stood awkward and sulky, like a loutish schoolboy, detected anddefiant.
"Well," he said at length, "s'pose it was? _You_ ain't got no proof ofit; an' if you 'ad----What 'a' ye come 'ere for, eh?"
She regarded him now with a gaze of odd curiosity, which lasted throughthe rest of their talk; much as though she were convinced of someextraordinary change in his appearance, which nevertheless eluded herobservation.
"I told you what I come for," she answered, after a pause. "Aboutgettin' them notes away from Kemp--the old wretch!"
"Umph! Old wretch. 'Cos 'e wanted to keep 'is cash-box, eh? Well, what'sthe game?"
Mrs. Grimes in no way abated her intent gaze, but she came a littlecloser, with a sidling step, as if turning her back to a possiblelistener. "There was two inquests at the Hole in the Wall," she said;"two on the same day. There was Kipps, as lost the notes when Cap'enKemp got 'em. An' there was Marr the shipowner--an' it was 'im as lost'em first!"
She took a pace back as she said this, looking for its effect. But Danmade no answer. Albeit his frown grew deeper and his eye sharper, and hestood alert, ready to treat his sister as friend or enemy according asshe might approve herself.
"Marr lost 'em first," she repeated, "an' I can very well guess how,though when I came here I didn't know you was in it. How did I know,thinks you, that Marr lost 'em first? I got eyes, an' I got ears, an' Igot common sense; an' I see the photo you spoke of--Marr an' 'is mother,most likely; anyhow the boy was Marr, plain, whoever the woman was. Iton'y wanted a bit o' thinkin' to judge what them notes had gone through.But I didn't dream you was so deep in it! Lor, no wonder Mag wasfrightened when I see 'er!"
Still Dan said nothing, but his eyes seemed brighter andsmaller--perhaps dangerous.
So the woman proceeded quickly: "It's all right! You needn't befrightened of my knowin' things! All the more reason for your gettin'the notes now, if you lost 'em before. But it's halves for me, mind ye.Ain't it halves for me?"
Dan was silent for a moment. Then he growled, "We ain't got 'em yet."
"No, but it's halves when we do get 'em; or else I won't say anotherword. Ain't it halves?"
Dan Ogle could afford any number of promises, if they would win himinformation. "All right," he said. "Halves it is, then, when we get 'em.An' how are we goin' to do it?"
Mrs. Grimes sidled closer again. "Marr the shipowner lost 'em first,"she said, "an' he was pulled out o' the river, dead an' murdered, justat the back o' the Hole in the Wall. See?"
"Well?"
"Don't see it? Kemp's got the pocket-book."
"Yes."
"Don't see it yet? Well; there's more. There's a room at the back o' theHole in the Wall, where it stands on piles, with a trap-door over thewater. The police don't know there's a trap-door there. I do."
Dan Ogle was puzzled and suspicious. "What's the good o' that?" heasked.
"I didn't think you such a fool, Dan Ogle. There's a man murdered withnotes on him, an' a photo, an' a watch--you said there was a watch. He'sfound in the river just behind the Hole in the Wall. There's atrap-door--secret--at the Hole in the Wall, over the water; just theplace he might 'a' been dropped down after he was killed. An' Kemp thelandlord's got the notes an' the pocket-book an' the photo all complete;an' most likely the watch too, since you tell me he bought it; an' Vineycould swear to 'em. Ain't all that enough to hang Cap'en Nat Kemp, ifthe police was to drop in sudden on the whole thing?"
Dan's mouth opened, and his face cleared a little. "I s'pose," he said,"you mean you might put it on to the police as it was Cap'en Nat did it;an' when they searched they'd find all the stuff, an' the pocket-book,an' the watch, an' the likeness, an' the trap-door; an' that 'ud beevidence enough to put 'im on the string?"
"Of course I mean it,"
replied Mrs. Grimes, with hungry spite in hereyes. "Of course I mean it! An' dearly I'd love to see it done, too!Cap'en Nat Kemp, with 'is money an' 'is gran'son 'e's goin' to make agentleman of, an' all! ''Ope you'll be honest where you go next,' saysCap'en Kemp, 'whether you're grateful to me or not!' Honest an'grateful! I'll give 'im honest an' grateful!"
Dan Ogle grinned silently. "No," he said, "you won't forgive 'im, I bet,if it was only 'cos you began by makin' such a pitch to marry 'im!" Achuckle broke from behind the grin. "You'd rather hang him than get hiscash-box now, I'll swear!"
Mrs. Grimes was red with anger. "I would that!" she cried. "You'renearer truth than you think, Dan Ogle! An' if you say too much you'lllose the money you're after, for I'll go an' do it! So now!"
Dan clicked his tongue derisively. "Thought you'd come to tell me how toget the stuff," he said. "'Stead o' that you tell me how to hang Cap'enNat, very clever, an' lose it. I don't see that helps us."
"Go an' threaten him."
"Threaten Cap'en Nat?" exclaimed Dan, glaring contempt, and spitting it."Oh yes, I see myself! Cap'en Nat ain't that sort o' mug. I'm as 'ard asmost, but I ain't 'ard enough for a job like that: or soft enough, forthat's what I'd be to try it on. Lor' lumme! Go an' ask any man up theHighway to face Cap'en Nat, an' threaten him! Ask the biggest an'toughest of 'em. Ask Jim Crute, with his ear like a blue-bag, that hechucked out o' the bar like a kitten, last week! 'Cap'en Nat,' says I,'if you don't gimme eight hundred quid, I'll hit you a crack!' Mightyfine plan that! That 'ud get it, wouldn't it? Ah, it 'ud get something!"
"I didn't say that sort of threat, you fool! You've got no sense foranything but bashing. There's the evidence that 'ud hang him; go an'tell him that, and say he _shall_ swing for it, if he doesn't handover!"
Dan stared long and thoughtfully. Then his lip curled again. "Pooh!" hesaid. "I'm a fool, am I? O! Anyhow, whether I am or not, I'm a fool'sbrother. Threaten Cap'en Nat with the evidence, says you! What evidence?The evidence what he's got in his own hands! S'pose I go, like a mug,an' do it. Fust thing he does, after he's kicked me out, is to chuck thepocket-book an' the likeness on the fire, an' the watch in the river.Then he changes the notes, or sells 'em abroad, an' how do we standthen? Why, you're a bigger fool than I thought you was!... What's that?"
It was nothing but a gun on the marsh, where a cockney sportsman was outafter anything he could hit. But Dan Ogle's nerves were alert, andthroughout the conversation he had not relaxed his watch toward London;so that the shot behind disturbed him enough to break the talk.
"We've been here long enough," he said. "You hook it. I'll see aboutCap'en Nat. Your way's no good. I'll try another, an' if that don't comeoff--well, then you can hang him if you like, an' welcome. But now hookit, an' shut your mouth till I've had my go. 'Nough said. Don't go backthe way you come."