My reasons for deciding to be frank were based upon no such subtlety. That I had, quite unintentionally, blundered into a den of criminals, seemed evident; and undoubtedly the next best thing to do was to get out. I am not, I hope, altogether a coward, but one man, caught as I was, like a rat in a trap, is no match for four, possibly for six--for how was I to know that the two who had been stationed outside the door, and had apparently departed upon some errand, might not return? I could not even be positive that they had not been told off to wait for me in the dark court outside, so that in the event of my managing to escape unharmed from the house, they might prevent me from reaching the street. In coming to the place at all, I had beyond question put my head between the jaws of a lion; and the man who, with his head between a lion's jaws, plays the fool by trying to twist the beast's tail, must not be surprised if, within the next two seconds, his own head be not on speaking, or even on nodding terms, with his own body. "I don't mind telling you why I'm here," I said civilly. "Why should I? It is only because I have been asked to write an article on opium dens for the _Charing Cross Magazine_. The den I visited once before in Ratcliff Highway has been pulled down, and a big Board School built on the site. I knew that there were dens somewhere in the neighbourhood of Limehouse Causeway, but I didn't know exactly where to find them, so I took the train to Poplar, gave a negro match-seller--who, I guessed, knew something of the locality--a couple of shillings to take me to 'where they smoked the opium.' He brought me here, where I am, and where apparently I ought not to be, judging by what you say. If I have intruded or trespassed, I'm sorry. So, with your kind permission, sir, I'll say 'Good evening' and take myself off." "Stop a moment," he said, looking at me more amicably. "Your explanation is quite straightforward and satisfactory, and now that you've made it, I don't mind telling you the reason for what you must have thought strange behaviour on our part.