"However that might be, nobody cared to go outside to see, and after it
got dark we liked going 'ome less than ever.
"Up to ten o'clock we did very well, and then Smith began to talk about
'is license. He said it was all rubbish being afraid to go 'ome, and
that, at any rate, the tiger couldn't eat more than one of us, and while
'e was doing that there was the chance for the others to get 'ome safe.
Two or three of 'em took a dislike to Smith that night and told 'im so.
"The end of it was we all slept in the tap-room that night. It seemed
strange at first, but anything was better than going 'ome in the dark,
and we all slept till about four next morning, when we woke up and found
the tramp 'ad gone and left the front door standing wide open.
"We took a careful look-out, and by-and-by first one started off and then
another to see whether their wives and children 'ad been eaten or not.
Not a soul 'ad been touched, but the wimmen and children was that scared
there was no doing anything with 'em. None o' the children would go to
school, and they sat at 'ome all day with the front winder blocked up
with a mattress to keep the tiger out.
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