"Allow me to introjuice Mr. Enry Arper o' Blackhampton.--Mr. Job Lorimer, foreman shunter, Kentish Town." "'Owdy do, young man. Pleased to meet you." Mr. Lorimer winked solemnly at both his subordinates. "What can we do for you?" "Twelve strokes with the birch rod," said subordinate the first. "Eight for the first offence," said subordinate the second. Suddenly the boy fell down senseless at the foreman shunter's feet. V "Well, blow me," said the Foreman Shunter. "Show the light, Pearson." The second subordinate maneuvered the lantern. "On'y a kid. And I never see sich a state as he's in. No boots. No stockings. Just look at them feet. And his hands all of a mush. Gawd!" said the Foreman Shunter. "What'll you do about it, Job?" said subordinate number one. "Do about it?" said the Foreman Shunter sharply. "Do about what?" "Might let him go this time?" said subordinate number two. The boy opened his eyes. "I'll take him 'ome to the missus and give him some breakfast," said the Foreman Shunter with an air of asperity. The odd thing was that both subordinates seemed silently to approve this grave dereliction of a foreman shunter's duty. "Can you walk, me lad?" "O' course he can't, Iggins, not with them," said the Foreman Shunter. "Can't stand on 'em, let alone walk on 'em. Here, catch holt o' the bawsket." The Foreman Shunter took the boy in his arms and carried him away from the goods yard as he would have carried a baby. "Leave the bawsket at No. 12 when you come off duty," he called back to the first subordinate. "Right, Job, I will," said the first subordinate rather respectfully, and then as the Foreman Shunter passed out of hearing, the first subordinate said to his mate, "Fancy taking a thing like that 'ome to your missus." In the meantime the boy was shivering and whimpering in what he felt to be the strong arms of the police. "Let me go, mister, this once," he whined as awful recollections surged upon him. He had been getting terribly hurt all through the night, but he knew that he was going to be hurt still more now that the police had got hold of him. But his faint whimpers and half-hearted wriggles were without effect upon the majesty of the law. "Lie still. Keep quiet," growled the Foreman Shunter, adding as quite an impersonal afterthought, "Blast you!" It seemed a very long time to the boy before he came to prison. Up one strange street and down another he was carried. As he lay in the arms of the police he could make out lamp after lamp and row after row of houses in the darkness. It was a long way to the station. "Let me go this once, mister," he began to whine again. "I'll not do it no more." "Quiet, blast you," growled the large, rich voice of the police.