"'Ere, mate," began the traffic-expert to the smaller of the two navvies, "just ketch that boy of yours a clip on the side of the 'ead, will you?"
The smaller man desisted from his labours in the hole.
"Wotsye, ole sport?" he inquired cheerily.
The policeman was a little ruffled by this familiarity.
"I'll trouble you," he repeated with some hauteur, "to ketch that boy of yours a clip on the side of the 'ead. If not, I shall 'ave to do my duty, according——"
Here the roar of a passing dray drowned his utterance.
The smaller man clambered nimbly out of the hole and proceeded to grab his young friend by the scruff of the neck.
"Billy," he remarked dispassionately, "this gentleman says as 'ow I'm to give you a clip on the side of the 'ead."
"Woffor," inquired Billy, simulating extreme terror.
The man passed the question on to the policeman, who explained the nature of the offence. His statement was voluntarily corroborated by several members of an audience which seemed to have materialised from nowhere, and now formed a ring round the encampment.