Most of the men present were members of the Burial Club in question, an institution of some fifteen years' standing and in connection with the club which met here for social and political purposes; they were in the habit, like John Hewett, of depositing their coppers weekly, thus insuring themselves or their relatives for a sum payable at death.

The rumour that something was wrong, that the secretary M'Cosh could not be found, began to create a disturbance; presently the nigger entertainment came to an end, and the Burial Club was the sole topic of conversation.
On the morrow it was an ascertained fact that one of the catastrophes which occasionally befall the provident among wage-earners had come to pass.

Investigation showed that for a long time there had been carelessness and mismanagement of funds, and that fraud had completed the disaster.

M'Cosh was wanted by the police.
To John Hewett the blow was a terrible one.

In spite of his poverty, he had never fallen behind with those weekly payments.