So the policeman backed him up, and the old gentleman said he was sorry, and offered Oswald sixpence.

Oswald refused it with polite disdain, and nothing more happened at all.
When Oswald had tried by himself and it had not come off, he said to the others, 'We're wasting our time, not trying to rescue the old gentleman in deadly peril.

Come--buck up! Do let's do something!' It was dinner-time, and Pincher was going round getting the bits off the plates.

There were plenty because it was cold-mutton day.

And Alice said-- 'It's only fair to try Oswald's way--he has tried all the things the others thought of.