nt. I'm very sorry to
bother you, missus."

But she couldn't do it. No. Certainly not. Decidedly not! All her drinks
were sixpence. She had her license to pay, and the rent, and a family to
keep. It wouldn't pay out there--it wasn't worth her while. It wouldn't
pay the cost of carting the liquor out, &c., &c.

"Well, missus," poor Smith blurted out at last, in sheer desperation,
"give me what you can in a bottle for this. I've--I've got a mate
outside." And he put the four coppers on the bar.

"Have you got a bottle?"

"No--but----"

"If I give you one, will you bring it back? You can't expect me to give
you a bottle as well as a drink."

"Yes, mum; I'll bring it back directly."

She reached out a bottle from under the bar, and very deliberately
measured out a little over a pint and poured it into the bottle, which
she handed to Smith without a cork.

Smith went his way without rejoicing. It struck him forcibly that he
should have saved the money until they reached Petone, or the city,
where Steelman would be sure to get a decent drink. But how was he to
know? He had chanced it, and lost; Steelman might have done the same.
What troubled Smith most was the thought of what Steelman would say; he
already heard him, in imagination, saying: "You're a mug, Smith--Smith,
you ARE a mug."

But Steelman didn't say much. He was prepared for the worst by seeing
Smith come along so soon. He listened to his story with an air of gentle
sadness, even as a stern father might listen to the voluntary confession
of a wayward child; then he held the bottle up to the fading light of
departing day, looked through it (the bottle), and said:

"Well--it ain't worth while dividing it."

Smith's heart shot right down through a hole in the sole of his left
boot into the hard road.

"Here, Smith," said Steelman, handing him the bottle, "drink it, old
man; you want it. It wasn't altogether your fault; it was an oversight
of mine. I didn't bargain for a woman of that kind, and, of course, YOU
couldn't be expected to think of it. Drink it! Drink it down, Smith.
I'll manage to work the oracle before this night is out."

Smith was forced to believe his ears, and, recovering from his surprise,
drank.

"I promised to take back the bottle," he said, with the ghost of a
smile.

Steelman took the bottle by the neck and broke it on the fence.

"Come on, Smith; I'll carry the swag for a while."

And they tramped on in the gathering starli