“He had almost overtaken him—­was, in fact, not more than thirty yards from him—­when from out of one of the two end houses—­No. 22, Phillimore Terrace, in fact—­a man, in nothing but his night-shirt, rushed out excitedly, and, before D 21 had time to intervene, literally threw himself upon the suspected individual, rolling over and over with him on the hard cobble-stones, and frantically shrieking, ’Thief!  Thief!  Police!’

“It was some time before the constable succeeded in rescuing the tramp from the excited grip of his assailant, and several minutes before he could make himself heard.

“‘There! there! that’ll do!’ he managed to say at last, as he gave the man in the shirt a vigorous shove, which silenced him for the moment.  ‘Leave the man alone now, you mustn’t make that noise this time o’ night, wakin’ up all the folks.’  The unfortunate tramp, who in the meanwhile had managed to got on to his feet again, made no attempt to get away; probably he thought he would stand but a poor chance.  But the man in the shirt had partly recovered his power of speech, and was now blurting out jerky, half—­intelligible sentences: 

“’I have been robbed—­robbed—­I—­that is—­my master—­Mr. Knopf.  The desk is open—­the diamonds gone—­all in my charge—­and—­now they are stolen!  That’s the thief—­I’ll swear—­I heard him—­not three minutes ago—­rushed downstairs—­the door into the garden was smashed—­I ran across the garden—­he was sneaking about here still—­Thief!  Thief!  Police!  Diamonds!  Constable, don’t let him go—­I’ll make you responsible if you let him go—­’

“‘Now then—­that’ll do!’ admonished D 21 as soon as he could get a word in, ‘stop that row, will you?’

“The man in the shirt was gradually recovering from his excitement.

“‘Can I give this man in charge?’ he asked.

“‘What for?’

“’Burglary and housebreaking.  I heard him, I tell you.  He must have Mr. Knopf’s diamonds about him at this moment.’

“‘Where is Mr. Knopf?’

“‘Out of town,’ groaned the man in the shirt.  ’He went to Brighton last night, and left me in charge, and now this thief has been and—­’

“The tramp shrugged his shoulders and suddenly, without a word, he quietly began taking off his coat and waistcoat.  These he handed across to the constable.  Eagerly the man in the shirt fell on them, and turned the ragged pockets inside out.  From one of the windows a hilarious voice made some facetious remark, as the tramp with equal solemnity began divesting himself of his nether garments.

“‘Now then, stop that nonsense,’ pronounced D 21 severely, ’what were you doing here this time o’ night, anyway?’

“‘The streets o’ London is free to the public, ain’t they?’ queried the tramp.

“‘This don’t lead nowhere, my man.’

“‘Then I’ve lost my way, that’s all,’ growled the man surlily, ’and p’raps you’ll let me get along now.’