notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the
seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick,
half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There
were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at
197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he
deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to
scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were
chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more
fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that
he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now
fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern
shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to
be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the
very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back
to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had
been taken from Carfax.
He replied:--
Well, guv nor, you ve treated me wery an some --I had given him half a
sovereign-- an I ll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of
Bloxam say four nights ago in the Are an Ounds, in Pincher s Alley,
as ow he an his mate ad ad a rare dusty job in a old ouse at
Purfect. There ain t a-many such jobs as this ere, an I m thinkin
that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut. I asked if he could tell me
where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it
would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest
of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search
then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:--
Look ere, guv nor, there ain t no sense in me a-keepin you ere. I
may find Sam soon, or I mayn t; but anyhow he ain t like to be in a way
to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze.
If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on
it, I ll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But
ye d better be up arter im soon in the mornin , or maybe ye won t ketch
im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore.
This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to
buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she
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