ept an eye on
the side door for Ada and Mrs Herring, at the same time watching each
pedestrian as he emerged from the darkness into the glare of the
electric lights.

The fine points of rain had gradually increased to a smart downfall,
that drummed on the veranda overhead and gurgled past his feet in the
gutter. Behind him, from a leak in the pipe, the water fell to the
ground with a noisy splash as if someone had turned on a tap. Joe felt
that he hated water like a cat. His watery blue eyes, fixed with a
careless scrutiny on every face, told him in an instant whether the
owner was a likely mark that he could touch for a drink, but his luck
was out. He decided that the two women must have slipped out by
another door.

Jonah, who had been caught in the shower, stopped for a moment under
the veranda, anxious to get back to the Silver Shoe before closing
time. Joe let him pass without stirring a muscle; he knew him. If you
asked him for a drink, he offered you work. But, as Jonah hesitated
before facing the rain again, a sudden anger flamed in his mind at the
sight of Jonah's gold watch-chain and silver-mounted umbrella. Cripes,
he knew that fellow when he knocked about with the Push, and now he was
rolling in money! And with the sudden impulse of a suicide who throws
himself under a train, he stepped up to Jonah.

"Could I 'ave a word with yer, Mr Jones?" he mumbled.

"'Ello, Smacker! Just gittin' 'ome, like myself?" said Jonah.

"Not much use gittin' 'ome to an empty 'ouse," said Joe, with a doleful
whine, "an' I've earned nuthin' this week."

"'Ow do yer expect to find work, when the only place yer look fer it is
in the bottom of a beer-glass?" said Jonah.

"I 'ave me faults, none knows better than meself," said Joe humbly,
"but thinkin' of them won't fill me belly on a night like this."

"Now look 'ere," said Jonah, "I'm in a 'urry. I won't give yer any
money, but if ye're 'ungry, come across the street, an' I'll buy yer a
meal."

Joe hesitated, but the thought of good money being wasted on food was
too much for him, and he played his last card.

"Look, I'll tell yer straight, Mr Jones; it's no use tryin' to pull yer
leg. I can git all the tucker I want for the askin', but I'm dyin' for
a beer to cheer me up an' keep out the cold."

He smiled at Jonah with an air of frankness, hoping to play on Jonah's
vanity by this cynical confession, but his heart sank as Jonah replied
"No, not a penny for