TO WALK WITH, AND NOT
STRAININ' THIM LIKE THAT"]

"'Come on!' he hollers. 'They're waitin' for ye!'

"And hiven help me, they was, and him standin' there lookin' worried
over me delay and sayin' nothin' to annybody! For wanct in me life I
didn't stop to think--faith, I was within wan of payin' dear for it
later--and the next I knew I was climbin' in the car, with him helpin'
me up, me bein' still a bit dizzy.

"'I'm sorry,' says he, blowin' for wind, whin we was in a seat
togither, 'but I lost thim suspinders.'

"'Niver mind thim, niver mind _thim_,' I says, watchin' ivry minute to
see would he be callin' on the other passengers. 'Wait till I git me
breath!'

"But he niver paid thim others anny attention whativer, and pretty
soon I begun wishin' he would. Sure, if he was thinkin' of worse than
bein' rescued and havin' me handed over to the polayce, thin thim cold
chills runnin' up and down me back wasn't doin' it for nothin'.
'Nonsinse,' I says to mesilf, summonin' back me manhood, 'I misdoubt
if he knows what he is doin'. And annyways, he seems to be comin'
along with me all right, bad cess to him, and it's me will be showin'
him what it is to be dealin' with a strong man and a brainy wan.

"'A few quistions, if ye please,' I says to him, commandin'. 'And be
prompt with thim!'

"'Yis,' says he, turnin' to me from lookin' out the windy and tryin'
to look like he'd been intelligent whin he was a lad.

"'Where does your father, Charles B. Schwartz, live at?' says I.

"'Ye can address him at the Aldorf, but he lives in Pittsburg,' says
he.

"'We'll pass over that last, Courtney,' says I; 'I'm not askin' ye for
the fam'ly skeletons. Ye say he likes ye?'

"'Oh, yis,' he says, 'we're chums, the two of us. It's this way,' says
he; 'the old man says that while I can't help him anny in his
business, I'm interistin' to him, bein' different from ivry wan ilse
he iver met.'

"'God bless the old gintleman!' I says.

"'Yis,' says he, 'he says it's excitin' to see what I'm going to spend
his money on next.'

"'Now they ain't anny use in pretendin' to be so rich,' I interrupts
him, irritated, 'and you with but eliven dollars and twinty cints on
the whole of ye!'

"'I don't carry it all with me,' says he.

"'No,' says I, 'ye don't carry all of annything with ye,' I says.

"'Would ye believe me if I said I was poor?' says he.

"'Divil a bit,' says I.

"'But then what do ye----'

"'Go on with your story,' I sa