quick, and jot things down
with a knowing air. Trampy, a mere boy, easy-going, genial, without a red
cent for the time being, didn't care a hang about business and was soon
telling Clifton the story of his life: drummer, reporter, racer; his
descent,--"Two whiskies, boy!"--what was he saying? Oh, yes, his descent
of a staircase on the bike, yes, siree, with a red-hot stove under his
arm--a stove painted to look red-hot--pursued by a policeman, leaping over
obstacles on the bike; great success at Duluth and Denver as a tramp
cyclist: hence his name of Trampy Wheel-Pad. But those girls, by Jove!
Well, he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. Still, a
rolling stone doesn't climb hills. Here he was, stranded. Go to Mexico? So
much a week? Such and such a turn? Teach the child? Cert!

Lily never alluded to Mexico afterward without shaking with anger. My, to
listen to her, how badly they treated her in Mexico! Worse than a Dago! To
tell the truth, it was hot; and Lily, already tired by those long journeys
in varying climates, Lily would have preferred to do nothing and to
continue to lead her careless life as a playful filly. But no, poor Lily
was caught by the hind-leg in Mexico! Ambition had seized upon Pa, body
and soul, and life became a more serious matter for the child.

"Look here!" said Pa, pointing to Trampy. "What he, a man, does, you can
do! I'll see to that!"

Pa arranged for a place in which to practise at their ease. In the
evening, on the stage, he watched and studied Trampy's tricks and, in the
morning, quick, out of bed, look alive, the bike! Pa no longer had his
open-mouthed admiration for Lily, as in South Africa and Asia: his Lily
knew nothing at all! But in three months, six months, if necessary, if it
cost him every penny he possessed. And it was:

"Come along, Lily ... to work! Show what you can do!"

Trampy, in this country of _manolas_--"Grand, by Jove!"--came round about
eleven; and Pa, all out of breath, passed Lily on to him:

"You have a go at her, Trampy! I give up, she won't do what I say!"

And Trampy put down his cigar, took off his collar and cuffs and it was,
"Come along, Lily!" till lunch-time. The child, her eyes blinking with
fatigue, fell fast asleep before the end of the meal.

Pa was delighted.

And he confided her to Trampy more and more, with orders not to spare
smackings in case of need:

"Eh, Lily? Eh?"

As for him, he had business to do, letters to write