But Chippy did not go down: he only looked with anxious eyes from father to son.
'Come on, speak up!' cried Larry. 'What made you do such a soft trick, Slynn?'
'She said her daughter 'ad been ill,' mumbled Chippy.
'What of that?' laughed Larry. 'That salmon wouldn't hurt her then.'
'Yer see, I'm a boy scout,' burst out Chippy suddenly, his husky voice hoarser than ever from excitement and uneasiness.
'Boy scout?' said Larry wonderingly. 'What's that? And what's it got to do with Mrs. Marten's cutlets?'
Chippy began eagerly to explain, and the two men listened for a few moments in puzzled wonder.
'Oh, well,' burst in Larry, 'that may be all very well in its way, but it's clean outside business.'
'It ain't outside anything,' murmured Chippy.
'What!' said young Blades. 'You don't mean to say you'd do the same if it happened again, do you? Do you want to lose your job?' Chippy stood aghast. Lose his precious four-and-six a week!