THE THIEF.

As the train pulled into the railway station the young man leapt out the door of the train on to the platform .an engine cleaner , who had been there earlier in the day , had dropped some oil on the platform by mistake and now the man stepped straight into it. he slipped and fell to the ground, but quickly scrambled to his feet again and hobbled off along the platform , not noticing that he had dropped his ticket when he fell.

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The old man , who had lost his wallet and his watch , went to report the thief to the guards after the train had stopped . the guard kept the old man waiting for a couple of minutes while he collected a parcel , some lamps and his flag, but then he listened to the story as they walked along the platform . the old man said that he felt sure the wallet had been stolen and he had it at the last stop and only one person had an opportunity to take it since then.

Mean while the ticket collector had refused to allow the man through the barrier because he had no ticket , and so the young man started to argue with him . very soon the rest of the crowd waiting at the barrier became very annoyed at the delay , especially as it was nearly lunch time and they begun to complain and shout.

At this point the old man and the guard arrived , and the old man whispered to the guard . that is the man , the one with oil all over his trouser .
At this the guard ran off and came back a minute later closely followed by a large policeman who was breathing heavily .
The police man quickly interrupted the young man in his argument with the ticket collector and arrested him .much to the delight of the crowd . he was found to be in possession of both of the stolen things , which were returned to their owner , and then he was taken away to the police station.