I then noticed another policeman ahead of me and so I kept my position
by the cart, readapting its cover in order to avoid him. Unfortunately
in rounding the corner I was spied by the first policeman, and he
immediately began to shout to me (_see map_). I was deaf to his
remarks and walked on as unconcernedly as a guilty being could till
I placed the corner of the new building between him and me. Then I
fairly hooked it along the back of the building and rounded the far
corner of it. As I did so I saw out of the tail of my eye that he was
coming full speed after me and was calling policeman No. 2 to his aid.
I darted like a red-shank round the next corner out of sight of both
policemen, and looked for a method of escape.
[Illustration: _The dotted line in this plan shows my route, small
figures are policemen looking for me._]
The scaffolding of the new house towered above me, and a ladder led
upwards on to it. Up this I went like a lamplighter, keeping one eye
on the corner of the building lest I should be followed.
I was half-way up when round the corner came one of the policemen.
I at once "froze." I was about fifteen feet above sea level and not
twenty yards from him. He stood undecided with his legs well apart,
peering from side to side in every direction to see where I had gone,
very anxious and shifty. I was equally anxious but immovable.
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