“Ay, how?” groaned the lame man in sympathy.
“You see, sur,” pursued the other, “I never had a fire on in my room, for the agreement was I was to get the use of Jimmy’s kitchen and fire for a shilling a week extra, so I had a board made to fit the fire-place, and I had that always fixed in while I was out. I’ll tell ye how I fixed it so as nobody could move it without me knowing. I always pasted a paper over the edges, and the paper had generally a picture on it. If any one had tuck it down when I was out the paper picture must have shown the cracks and tears. Last night when I got home there wasn’t a scratch or tear in the paper—this morning the same; but when I took out the board with my own hands I found that the hole in the chimney was empty, and my bag of gold stole away.”
“Stole away!” echoed the lame man, like an obedient chorus, with a doleful shake of the head.
“Then I wondered how it was I hadn’t seen Jimmy for three days, for I’d never known him to be away so long before,” continued the organ-grinder. “You see, we have both keys to fit the outer door, and when Jimmy’s away I just look after things for him. He’s a bachelor, and so am I, and likely to keep so if I don’t get back my money. Oh, what will my poor darlin’, Honora, say when she hears of me being robbed!” he moaned, flying off at a tangent again. “She’s waited for me for ten years, and the money was to fulfil a vow I made as a penance to me sowl, for I wance struck my mother, and knocked her senseless, and I vowed before God that if He’d restore her I’d save, and slave, and scrape, and stint myself, and never marry my own devoted girl till I’d bought the little bit of land and the house for the owld paiple to end their days in peace; and another year would have done it. Surely the blessed Lord above us, that heard my vow and helped me to keep it, won’t let me be sent broken-hearted to the grave with this cruel loss?”
“You ought to have put the money in the bank,” I said severely. “The interest alone during these years would have amounted to something handsome, and allowed you to fulfil your purpose by this time.”
“I couldn’t trust a bank,” he said, with the national prejudice in every word and tone. “When the bank broke I’d have blamed myself for my simplicity and foolishness, but now I blame nobody but the black-hearted thafe. If it’s Jimmy Poulson that’s done it, he’ll never prosper in this world; for it’s not me alone he’s wronged, but the owld paiple, that are less able to bear it, and my sweet colleen, that would lay down her life for me.”
“Oh, but Mr McGovan will soon run him down,” observed the lame man, hopefully.
I was not so sure of that, for, supposing the thief to be Poulson, that worthy had already got three days’ start. As yet, however, I was by no means certain that there had been any thief in the case. When I had got from the organ-grinder a description of the land of houses in which he lived, I found that it was one well known to me as one of the ricketiest buildings in the quarter, and I quickly formed a theory, from his description of the place and circumstances, that seemed to offer the only feasible explanation. He had thrust the bag of money into a hole inside the chimney; that hole might have been deeper than he thought; might have led into another chimney; and so, in thrusting in the treasure, it was possible he might have sent it tumbling down, like a gift from heaven, into some wretched abode beneath. I said little of this idea at the moment, but anxiety to test the matter induced me to go with the queer pair to the organ-grinder’s garret. It was a poor place, and very small. There was a bed at one side, and a window jutting out on the slates. This window was fastened with two thick screw nails on the inside, and had not been opened for years. I tried with all my strength to open it, but it did not yield in the slightest. The place was very tidy and clean, considering that no woman ever got within the door. I turned to the fire-place, beside which stood a square board very much papered over on one side, but showing clean white wood and two cross spars on the other. This fitted the fire-place exactly. Directed by the organ-grinder I reached up inside the fire-place and soon touched a recess in the wall of the chimney. It was a mistake to call it a hole; it was a mere ledge in the wall on which a bag of money might have rested easily, but in which it could scarcely be said to be hidden. There was no soot in the chimney, and my fingers were not even soiled by the inspection. My theory, of course, was completely knocked on the head, but I immediately formed another.
Looking up the chimney I could see daylight at quite a short distance above. The vent was nearly straight till near the fire-place, where it widened considerably. The organ-grinder was positive that the strange door of his safe and its fastenings had been quite untampered with before he himself opened it. He declared that if it had been he should have detected the fact at a glance. The money therefore had not come out at that door; neither had it gone through the wall or down any other chimney; there remained therefore but one way for its abstraction, that was—up the chimney. The lame man Joson, who assisted me officiously during the examination, was anxious when I had concluded to learn what theory I had formed in regard to the robbery, but I did not enlighten him; and though the second theory, like the first, proved to be not quite correct, it was perhaps as well that I said nothing of it at the time. No such caution is necessary here, however, and I may state the theory. I had often seen ragamuffins fishing down the street gratings or inaccessible areas for odds and ends dropped by passers by, their fishing-tackle generally consisting of a long bit of twine and a piece of wood or stone, the under side of which was coated with tar or some such sticky substance. Sometimes, instead of a tarred stone, there was a well-sharpened table fork, which was simply lowered and let “dab” into the article to be hoisted.
If the article happened to lie in any corner “off the plumb,” some difficulty was generally experienced in the fishing, though even then captures were sometimes made by setting the fork or sticky stone in motion, pendulum wise, and at the proper moment letting it fall on the article. Now, applying this knowledge to the organ-grinder’s money-bag, it seemed to me quite likely that it had been fished out in the same fashion, though I was doubtful if a fork or even a sticky stone could have laid hold of a money-bag of green flannel, especially when that bag was weighted with 207 sovereigns. But even supposing the “fishing” theory correct, boys do not generally wander along roofs fishing down chimneys for possible hoards.