Sentence The Fivehundredandseventythird 

The philanthropic Five quid pro quo fell like manna from Heaven into the hands of two small boys, and overcame their hysterical coulrophobia – or perhaps it was coalbunkerophobia, after three hours in the pitch dark – aroused when what seemed like a devilish clown's face appeared at the top of the

coal chute and scared the living daylights out of them: Sadie's chalk-white face, with scarlet lips and bright red hair, silhouetted against a street lamp was enough to make them both shit themselves, and

it took half-an-hour for Jessie to cajole them out of the cellar and into a steaming bath, while Sadie washed their soiled clothes and dried them on the fire-guard; this was Hamish's night with a group of 

pals for cards and he wouldn't be home till late: "will yer Ma an Da no miss ye?" asked Sadie, "nah, we're never in till late oan a Friday," said Tam while Boabbie stuffed his face with a jeely piece and nodded; "richt then," said Jessie, "this is the plan . . . . ." and proceeded to explain what she and Sadie had decided and the part they needed the two boys to play: "aye," said Tam for the both of them, "we kin dae aw that, but ah dinnae ken whit Inspector Ferguson'll dae," said the boy, with a worried look on his now clean face; "as lang as ye kin get him tae meet me therr, we'll tak ower an explain whit we ken an suspect, efter that, weel, it's up tae him, if ye think we kin trust him?" and Tam looked straight at her, a serious look on his small features, "ma Da sez, fur a Peeler he's pretty square, aye ah fink ye kin, if he bleeves yer story, ah fink he'll meet The Intruder an see whit he finks hissel," at which the two women stood and hustled the boys into their clean clothes and out of the house for the tram

which would take them all over the river and the short walk to the O'Hare tenement and a showdown with Connor O'Hare! and the five pound note? new and white and folded into a square, it was tucked 

away inside one of Tam's socks, causing him to walk with a slight limp, but his face, like that of Boabbie, glowed with excitement, the prospects of winning them Fame and Fortune, and their picture in the paper alongside that of Hamish MacDonald AKA!