"That little error can easily be rectified by our settling with the Church Hulk first; but these are mere details. The workers, my lads, shall have their reward; and the clerical Lazarus shall sit down at the same table as the clerical Dives."
"But robbing a church," said the butcher, "is about the last thing a fellow ought to do, is it not?"
"The end, Billy, will justify the means," the carpenter remarked.
"Our master, the Buccaneer," said the cook, "was not above robbing a church once, and who will say he did wrong? Of course his conscience-healers will find justification for the act if he pays them well, and as they read history by the light of faith, and not altogether by facts, they can prove all things entirely to their own satisfaction, and what would have been an act of robbery in others, would be, when they were concerned, a most laudable action. Faith, as is well known, my mates, can work wonders, and it can overcome a mountain of the most obstinate facts with the greatest ease."
"But suppose they turn to and curse us," asked the butcher, who evidently had some qualms of conscience.
"And suppose they do," cried the cook. "Are we a lot of old women to be frightened by such things. Know you not the saying, Billy, that curses come home to roost? Let them curse then."
"Where is Chisel?" the carpenter asked.
"I am here," a voice said out of the darkness.
"Not hearing you, mate, I thought you must have slipped away."
"It appears to me," replied the carpenter's mate, "that there is little need for me to say much, considering that I am expected to do all the dirty work."