he world,
but what I can liquidate in ten minutes!"

"Oh, it's not debt, sir; you may see by the writ it's _felony!_"

If the man had drawn and cocked a revolver at Jenks, the effect upon his
nervous system could not have been more startling or powerful. But he
recovered his self-possession, and learned with dismay, that he was
arrested--yes, _arrested_ as an accessory to a grand scheme of fraud and
general villany, on the part of Smith, a conclusion arrived at, by those
most interested, upon discovery that Jenks had pronounced Smith "good,"
and endorsed for him in sums total, enormously, far beyond Jenks' actual
ability to make good!

It was in vain Jenks declared, and no man before ever dreamed of
doubting his word, his entire ability to meet all liabilities of his own
and others, for whom he kindly become responsible; for when the _bulk_
of Smith's _paper_ with Jenks' endorsement was thrust at him, he gave
in; saw clearly that he was the victim of a heartless _forger_.

But his calmness, in the midst of his affliction, triumphed, and he
rested comparatively easy in jail that night, awaiting the bright future
of to-morrow, when his established character, and "troops of friends"
should set all right. But, poor Jenks, he reckoned indeed without his
host; to-morrow came, but not "a friend in need;" they saw, in their
far-reaching wisdom, a sinking ship, and like sagacious rats, they
deserted it!

"I always thought Jenks a very good-natured, or a very _deep_ man," said
one.

"I knew he was too generous to last long!" said another.

"I told him he was _green_ to endorse as freely as he did," echoed a
third.

"Good fellow," chimed a fourth--"but devilish imprudent."

"He knows what he's at!" cunningly retorted a fifth, and so the good
but misguided Jenks was disposed of by his "troops of friends!"

But Perkins & Ball--they had got up again, were flourishing; they, Jenks
felt satisfied, would not show the "white feather," and the thought came
to him, in his prison, as _merrily_ as the reverse of that fond hope
made him _sad_ and sorrowful, when at the close of day, his attorney
informed him, that Perkins & Ball regretted his perplexing situation,
but proffered him no aid or comfort. They said, sad experience had shown
them, that there were no "bowels of compassion" in the world for the
fallen; men must trust to fortune, God, and their own exertions, to
defeat ill luck and rise from difficulties; _they_ had done s