Mr. Mackintyre choked.
Then he cleared his throat. He had a great deal more to say, and he wanted to say it distinctly.
5. The Tough Egg
Chief inspector Teal caught Larry the Stick at Newcastle trying to board an outward-bound Swedish timber ship. He did not find the fifty thousand pounds' worth of bonds and jewellery which Larry took from the Temple Lane Safe Deposit; but it may truthfully be reported that no one was more surprised about that than Larry himself.
They broke open the battered leather suit-case to which Larry was clinging as affectionately as if it contained the keys of the Bank of England, and found in it a cardboard box which was packed to bursting-point with what must have been one of the finest collections of small pebbles and old newspapers to which any burglar had ever attached himself; and Larry stared at it with glazed and incredulous eyes.
"Is one of you busies saving up for a rainy day?" he demanded, when he could speak; and Mr. Teal was not amused.
"No one's been to that bag except when you saw us open it," he said shortly. "Come on, Larry — let's hear where you hid the stuff."
"I didn't hide it," said Larry flatly. He was prepared to say more, but suddenly he shut his mouth. He could be an immensely philosophic man when there was nothing left for him to do except to be philosophic, and one of his major problems had certainly been solved for him very providentially. "I hadn't anything to hide, Mr. Teal. If you'd only let me explain things I could've saved you busting a perfickly good lock and making me miss my boat."
Mr. Teal tilted back his bowler hat with a kind of weary patience.
"Better make it short, Larry," he said. "The night watchman saw you before you coshed him, and he said he'd recognize you again."