Grubby the Thief

Till looked down from the rafter that he carefully balanced himself on. He had followed the thief to this old run down building. This building may have housed the pigs the first settlers had brought over. It still smelled of them.

Or maybe it was him? Regardless the man sat below at a wooden table. The box that he had stolen was lying on top next to some other pile of coins and jewels. Till tried to stretch and peer at the man. He could not see exactly everything the man was looking at. Seems he had grabbed a few things from other new arrivals earlier that day as well. Most of it looked cheap and not very valuable.

When Till finally caught up to the man, night was starting to wash over the port town. Till used the shadows to sneak in from a loose board in the sidewall of the structure he found, and then using an old broken cabinet boosted himself up into the rafters where he now crouched above the grubby thief.
The grubby thief lit a small lantern and began to sift through a purse of coins and some jewelry. He moaned in happiness as he did so. He may have been saving the box for last, but Till would never know. Just then Till's stomach let out an enormous growl. He still had not eaten yet this day.

Till froze in panic watching the man, Till didn't expect that. He prayed the grubby thief didn't here it.

The grubby thief did here it though, and picked up the lantern and shone it around the room as if he did not know what it was.

Not seeing anybody behind him he looked upward and saw a pair of old boots swinging down from the rafters. It happened so fast Grubby the Thief couldn't react. Grubby fell backwards onto the dirty floor from the blow. There he sat in the darkness, barely conscious looking around in a daze.

Till, down from the rafters and on his feet was not taking any chances. He picked the box up off the table and slammed the end of it into Grubby the Thief's forehead. Not once, but twice until Grubby fell backward and hit the dirty wooden floor with a loud thud. Till stood there looking down at the injured man wondering if he was going to have to hit him a third time. The blood pouring from the gash in his forehead was answer enough for him.

"Thanks a lot tummy old friend," Till murmured to himself. "I guess I'm going to have to take some of these coins and go get a meal so something like this doesn't happen again." Till put the box on his shoulder and picked up a a fistful of coins from the table and slid them into his vest pocket. The whole time watching to make sure Grubby did not start to get back up.

Remembering passing a tavern earlier called the Drunken Hare, Till decided to head in that direction to fill his tummy and to hopefully get some information. Information on who and how to return this box to it's rightful owner....and with a vest pocket full of coin, perhaps celebrate his first successful day in the new land.