Very unwillingly Jimmy accompanied Coote along the platform and out into the street. It was quite dark and very cold, as the boy trotted along by the policeman's side, looking up timidly into his red face.
'Nice sort of boy you are and no mistake,' said Coote, 'travelling over the company's line without a ticket. Do you know what's done to them as travels without a ticket?'
'What?' faltered Jimmy.
'Ah, you wait a few minutes, and you'll see fast enough,' said Coote.
What with his policeman's uniform, his red cheeks, his great size, Jimmy felt more and more afraid, and he really believed that he was going to be locked up because he had travelled in the wrong train. Instead of that the man was thinking what he should do to make the boy more comfortable. He naturally supposed that Jimmy's friends would reward him, and as it seemed likely that Mrs. Coote might not have anything especially tempting for supper he determined to buy something on the way home. After walking along several quiet streets they came to one which was much busier. There were brilliant lights in the shop windows, and in front of one of the brightest Coote stopped.
CHAPTER VIII
JIMMY RUNS AWAY
It was a ham and beef shop, and in Jimmy's cold and hungry condition the meat pies and sausages and hams in the window looked very tempting.
'You just wait here a few moments,' said Coote, as he came to a standstill, 'and mind it's no use your thinking o' running away, because I can run too.' With that he entered the ham and beef shop, leaving Jimmy outside alone on the pavement. Perhaps Jimmy would never have thought of running away if the man had not suggested it; but he was so frightened that he felt it would be better to do anything rather than go with the policeman. You know that sometimes a boy does not stay to consider what is really the best, and Jimmy did not stay to think now. Whilst he saw Coote talking to the shopman in the white apron, through the window, he suddenly turned to make a dash across the road.