Chapter 39: The Difference Between a Human and a Monkey
Chapter 39 The Difference Between Man and Monkey
The continuous rain outside the window was still falling all the time, and the transparent glass was crawling with sheer drops of water.
Through the window, Arthur and Elder could be seen asking and answering questions.
Time passed by, and it wasn’t long before the second page Arthur brought today was also filled with information about ‘General Thief’ Fred.
Name: Fred Matthews
Gender: Male
Age: 40-50 years old
Experience:
1. Speaks with a southern accent, presumably from a family of hired farmers in the Sussex or Kent countryside.
2. Joined the Army at an early age and has some knowledge of firearms, gunpowder, and close combat; his regiment is unknown at this time.
3. He was demobilized after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, but there was a shortage of jobs due to the large number of regiments disbanded in 1815. During this period, Fred was active in the docks of London, working as a dock hand to make ends meet, and later organized a group of retired veterans to compete for the dock transport business by violent means.
4. After 1820, he gradually shifted his business to other trades, which included but were not limited to illegal acts such as selling stolen goods, theft, robbery, extortion and blackmail.
5. Following a complaint by the Dock Merchants’ Union in 1825, the group was severely criticized and a number of key members were sentenced to death by hanging.
6. Fred and his group disappeared for some time before opening a private detective agency called ‘Blackpool’ at 75 Brick Lane, Whitechapel, East London in 1828, claiming to offer a wide range of services including burglary, investigation and security.
7. However, the day-to-day work of the agency was usually carried out by Fred’s men, who rarely appeared in public after 1825, and very few people know his true identity.
As Arthur wrote, he was struck by the problem.
Most of the cases Fred had committed in public were before 1825, and most of those cases were so far in the past that it was difficult to gather evidence to prosecute Fred.
And now, although it is possible to investigate Fred through the private detective agency that spied on him, but as far as the information obtained so far, Fred has been acting in a relatively low-profile manner since his comeback.
When conducting gray business such as selling stolen goods, he would carefully choose who to deal with.
Either it is a very small amount of one-to-one transaction, this type of transaction is fast, small value, almost no trace, so it is difficult to trace.
When conducting large transactions that were easy to trace, Fred would only choose someone like Elder, who had the Royal Navy’s endorsement or other strong backgrounds.
To put it bluntly, where he could be investigated, he could not be investigated. Where he can be traced, he can’t be traced.
After all, Arthur can’t go to the Admiralty with handcuffs to arrest someone, right?
Faced with a mess of clueless information, Arthur only felt uncomfortable everywhere.
This Fred, indeed, is not easy to catch.
Elder advised from the side, ”Arthur, why are you touching him for nothing? He is a retired soldier from the army, although he is not very capable, but there are too many people behind him.
Even if you want to catch him, you can only catch him dead, never catch him alive. If you put him in Scotland Yard alive, I guess a lot of people in the city of London won’t be able to sleep at night.”
Arthur slumped back and leaned back in his chair, “Does that include you?”
“Me? Of course not.”
Eldar was full of himself, “I’m covered by my uncle, my uncle is covered by the Fleet Admiral, the Fleet Admiral is covered by the Admiralty, and the Admiralty is covered by the Council.
Everyone knows that there’s shit under the toilet, and they know it stinks, but who’s got nothing better to do than lift the lid?
Should the toilet not still have to pinch the nose on it? Do not really intend to blow up the cesspool how?
Honestly, even if you don’t find it disgusting, are you going to shit in the field if you have a stomachache?”
Elder is full of shit, so Darwin just picked up a piece of bread and put it back.
He complained, “Elder, are you really a classics graduate?”
Elder raised an eyebrow, “Why do you ask that question too?” He picked up a piece of dried fish and held it in his mouth, pointing as he chewed.
“Charles, that’s not good for you! When you get on the ship later, in case you float for a long time and the ship is short of supplies, that’s like some rotting fruit or cookie crumbs with a moldy smell you’ll have to swallow.”
Just as the three of them were chatting, the door of the cafe was suddenly pushed open.
The bell hanging on the door jingled, and two people in police uniforms, dripping wet, walked up to Arthur.
Elder glanced at the two of them, pondered over them for a moment, and suddenly jumped up from his chair in fright.
He pointed at Arthur and cursed, “Arthur, you’re really going to fucking do me, aren’t you? Afraid that one person can’t restrain me, you even purposely called for two helpers!”
Arthur also didn’t know which of his friend’s nerves was misplaced, he helplessly explained, “Just sit down and eat your dried fish, they’re not here to catch you.”
Elder said suspiciously, “Then what are they here for?”
Arthur glanced at the clock in the café and rushed to the two officers, “Tom, Tony, you two are also too late today.”
Officer Tony was embarrassed, “Arthur, we really didn’t mean to. Both of us are used to working on the front line, and we were halfway through our patrol today when we suddenly remembered that we’ve been transferred to the district police office by you.”
Tom also nodded with a red face and said, “Arthur, why don’t Tony and I go back to the front line. Tony used to be a shoe stitcher and I used to be a shoe shiner, paperwork is just too much for the two of us to handle.”
“Who told you that I sent you to the district police station to do paperwork?”
Tony and Tom froze at that, and they said in unison, “Then what did you call us here for?”
Arthur said in a serious manner, “Patrol work, anyone can do. But the job of solving crimes is not something that anyone can play.
I transferred you guys here because I want to train you from patrolmen towards detectives.
Since I’ve decided to let you work as police detectives in the future, it’s only natural that you should strengthen your relevant knowledge.
Do you know the biggest difference between humans and monkeys?
The biggest difference between humans and monkeys lies in the fact that humans know how to continuously learn to pursue more advanced skills.
And Mr. Charles Darwin, who is in front of me, not only understands monkeys, but also understands human beings, and even understands how monkeys evolved into human beings.
Therefore, in the three months from now on, your main task is to follow Mr. Darwin to learn about museum science and medicine.”
Who knew that just after Arthur had said this, Tom and Tony had not yet replied, but Darwin had protested first.
“Arthur, although I am a Lamarckian, I don’t think there will be any necessary connection between man and monkey.”
Arthur didn’t care about Darwin’s protest, he waved his hand and said, “That’s fine, it’s fine for you to think so in the future.”
It was Tony and Tom’s turn to be embarrassed.
“Arthur, it’s okay if you let us patrol.”
“But this study bar ……”
Arthur of course understood what kind of fuckup his two colleagues were, so he didn’t say anything, just raised three fingers at them both.
Tony frowned and asked, “Arthur, what do you mean by that?”
Arthur calmly said, “Both of you, each of you will receive a temporary allowance of three shillings per week, which will come out of my salary. If you pass the assessment after three months, this allowance will be completely fixed in your weekly salary.”
“Hiss ……”
Tony and Tom looked at each other, and without even half a moment’s hesitation, they stood at attention in unison and saluted Arthur.
“Yes, sir!”
(End of chapter)