why in the
devil I pulled that way. When I told myself that it was because I was
pulling with Dan Rafferty I said all I knew about it.

It seemed to me that any man who secured Dan as a boss would already
have the backbone of his gang. I didn't ever expect to use him in this
way but I wanted the man for a friend and I wanted to learn the secret
of his power if I could. But I may as well confess right now that I
never fully fathomed that.

In the meanwhile I had not neglected the other men. At every
opportunity I talked with them. At the beginning I made it a point to
learn their names and addresses which I jotted down in my book. I
learned something from them of the padrone system and the unfair
contracts into which they were trapped. I learned their likes and
dislikes, their ambitions, and as much as possible about their
families. It all came hard at first but little by little as I worked
with them I found them trusting me more with their confidences.

In this way then the first summer passed. Both Ruth and the boy in the
meanwhile were just as busy about their respective tasks as I was. The
latter took to the gymnasium work like a duck to water and in his
enthusiasm for this tackled his lessons with renewed interest. He put
on five pounds of weight and what with the daily ocean swim which we
both enjoyed, his cheeks took on color and he became as brown as an
Indian. If he had passed the summer at the White Mountains he could
not have looked any hardier. He made many friends at the Y.M.C.A. They
were all ambitious boys and they woke him up wonderfully. I was
careful to follow him closely in this new life and made it a point to
see the boys myself and to make him tell me at the end of each day
just what he had been about. Dick was a boy I could trust to tell me
every detail. He was absolutely truthful and he wasn't afraid to open
his heart to me with whatever new questions might be bothering him. As
far as possible I tried to point out to him what to me seemed the good
points in his new friends and to warn him against any little
weaknesses among them which from time to time I might detect. Ruth did
the rest. A father, however much a comrade he may be with his boy, can
go only so far. There is always plenty left which belongs to the
mother--if she is such a mother as Ruth.

As for Ruth herself I watched her anxiously in fear lest the new life
might wear her down but honestly as far as the house was concerned she
di