"Can you describe these men?" the inspector asked, when his short story was told.
Jet did his best, not omitting to say that the hair of one and the whiskers of another looked suspiciously false.
"Would you know them again?"
"I'm certain of it. The tall man I could spot even if the whiskers were taken off."
At this point the officer who had been sent to learn the truth of Jet's statement regarding himself, returned, nodded his head in a significant manner, and immediately disappeared through another doorway.
Over and over again did the inspector insist on Jet's telling the story of his morning's work, and when fully an hour had been spent in this manner he said decidedly more kindly than before:
"I believe you have spoken the truth, but you will be an important witness in a very serious case, and I suppose it is my duty to send you to the House of Detention."
"Does that mean I'm goin' to be locked up?" Jet asked in alarm.
"You will be deprived of your liberty, but it is very different from going to jail."
"Don't do that! Please don't do that! I've just got a job where I can earn a good deal of money, and it'll knock me out of it. Besides," Jet added as a lucky thought occurred to him, "if I keep on about my business I may see them fellers again."