"This young shaver was going to nick my bike. I seen him."

"I wasn't, you fool----" began Rogers, who did not like the man's
knuckles in his neck.

"Fool am I, you little ugly thief? Worn't you a-scorchin' down the road
w'it? I see you."

The other Amorians curled up with laughter at the way things were mixing
up, and at the last exquisite joke.

"Jove, Rogers, to think you meant to steal it!" burbled Poulett.

"Leave loose of my collar, you idiot," said Rogers, squirming in the
man's grasp; "I tell you it's all a mistake."

"That's all my h'eye. I see you sneak it, and it'll be a month for you.
Sneaking bikes is awful! Mistake be blowed."

"Oh! explain, some of you," said Rogers, frantically, "before I--Grim,
tell the lunatic."

The Amorians were beyond mere laughter now, but the landlord had wit
enough to see that there was some mistake somewhere, and he finally
persuaded the owner of the bicycle to moderate his attentions to the
exasperated Rogers. Grim recovered sufficiently to lift some of the
suspicions from that ill-used youth.

"We thought you were a friend of ours--back view only and at a distance,
you know--but you're not very like him, really, in the face. His name's