'It's very like I was asleep when five-and-tenpence was collected, in one round, isn't it?
I was attending to my business, and couldn't have my eyes in twenty places at once, like a peacock, no more than you could.

If I an't a match for an old man and a young child, you an't neither, so don't throw that out against me, for the cap fits your head quite as correct as it fits mine.' 'You may as well drop the subject, Tom,' said Short.

'It isn't particular agreeable to the gentleman, I dare say.' 'Then you shouldn't have brought it up,' returned Mr Codlin; 'and I ask the gentleman's pardon on your account, as a giddy chap that likes to hear himself talk, and don't much care what he talks about, so that he does talk.' Their entertainer had sat perfectly quiet in the beginning of this dispute, looking first at one man and then at the other, as if he were lying in wait for an opportunity of putting some further question, or reverting to that from which the discourse had strayed.

But, from the point where Mr Codlin was charged with sleepiness, he had shown an increasing interest in the discussion: which now attained a very high pitch.
'You are the two men I want,' he said, 'the two men I have been looking for, and searching after! Where are that old man and that child you speak of ?' 'Sir ?' said Short, hesitating, and looking towards his friend.
'The old man and his grandchild who travelled with you--where are they?
It will be worth your while to speak out, I assure you; much better worth your while than you believe.

They left you, you say--at those races, as I understand.