Stranica 114 [114]
76
fortnight,” said the Dodger.
“That he wouldn’t; not a bit of it,”
observed Charley.
“He’s a rum dog. Don’t he look
fierce at any strange cove that laughs or
sings when he’s in company!” pursued
the Dodger. " Wont he grow] at all,
when he hears a fiddle playing, and don’t
he hate other dogs as ain’t of his breed!
Winkin! Oh, no!"
6 He’s an out-and-out Christian,” said
Charley.
This was merely intended as a tribute
to the animal’s abilities, but it was an ap¬
propriate remark in another sense, if Mas¬
ter Bates had only known it; for there
are a great many ladies and gentlemen
claiming to be out-and-out Christians, be¬
tween whom and Mr. Sikes’s dog there
exist very strong and singular points of
resemblance.
“ Well, well!” said the Dodger, recur¬
ring to the point from which they had
strayed, with that mindfulness of his pro¬
fession which influenced all his proceed¬
ings. “This hasn’t got anything to do
with young Green here.”
“ No more it has,” said Charley. “ Why
don’t you put yourself under Fagin, Oli¬
ver ?”
“ And make your fortun’ out of hand ?”’
added the Dodger, with a grin.
6 And so be able to retire on your pro¬
perty, and do the genteel, as I mean to in
the very next leap-year but four that ever
comes, and the forty-second Tuesday in
Trinity-week,” said Charley Bates.
* [ don’t like it,” rejoined Oliver timid¬
ly; “I wish they would let me go. I—
Facweela rather go.”
“And Fagin would rather not!” re¬
joined Charley. |
Oliver knew this too well; but, think¬
ing it might be dangerous to express his
feelings more openly, he only sighed, and
went on with his boot-cleaning.
“Go!” exclaimed the Dodger. " Why,
where’s your spirit? Don’t you take any
pride out of yourself? Would you go and
be dependent on your friends, eh ?"
6 Oh, blow that!” said Master Bates,
drawing two or three silk handkerchiefs
from his pocket, and tossing them into a
cupboard, “ that’s too mean, that is!”
“JI couldn’t do it,” said the Dodger,
with an air of haughty disgust.
“You can leave your friends, though,”
said Oliver, with a half-smile, “and let
them be punished for what you did.”
consideration for Fagin, "cause the traps
know that we work together, and he might
have got into trouble if we hadn’t made
our lucky ; that was the move, wasn’t it,
Charley ?”
Master Bates nodded assent, and would
have spoken, but that the recollection of
Oliver’s flight came so suddenly upon
him, that the smoke he was inhaling got
entangled with a laugh, and went up into
his head, and down into his throat, and
brought on a fit of coughing and stamping
about five minutes long.
6 Look here!" said the Dodger, draw¬
ing forth a handful of shillings and half¬
pence. “Here’sa jolly life! what’s the
odds where it comes from? Here, catch
hold; there’s plenty more where they
were took from. You won’t, won’t you?
oh, you precious flat!"
“It’s naughty, ain’t it, Oliver?” in¬
quired Charley Bates. "Hell come to
be scragged, won’t he?”
c! don’t know what that means,” re¬
plied Oliver, looking round.
“Something in this way, old" feller,”
said Charley. As he said it, Master Bates
caught up an end of his neckerchief, and,
holding it erect in the air, dropped his
head on his shoulders, and jerked a curi¬
ous sound through his teeth, thereby indi¬
cating, by a lively pantomimic represen¬
tation, that scragging and hanging were
one and the same thing.
“That ’s what it means,” said Charley.
“ Look how he stares, Jack; I never did
see such prime company as that ’ere boy ;
he’ ll be the death of me, I know he will?
And Master Charles Bates having laugh¬
ed heartily again, resumed his pipe with
tears in his eyes.
“You’ve been brought up bad,” said
the Dodger, surveying his boots with much
satisfaction when Oliver had polished
them. “Fagin will make something of
you, though ; or you'll be the first he ever
had that turned out unprofitable. You’d
better begin at once, for you’ll come to
the trade long before you think of it, and
you "re only losing time, Oliver.”
Master Bates backed this advice with
sundry moral adinonitions of his own,
Mr. Dawkins launched into a glowing
description of the numerous pleasures in¬
cidental to the life they led, interspersed
with a variety of hints to Oliver that the
best thing he could do, would be to secure
Fagin’s favour without more delay by the
same means which they had employed to
gain it.
“And always put this in your pipe,