you must take it.'

"He backed away growling, but I caught him round the neck, roughed what
little wind he had out of him, and left him doubled up with the two
fives in his pocket. But hardly had the elevator started, when the two
coins tinkled on the roof and fell down between the car and the shaft.
As luck had it, the door was not closed, and I put out my hand and
caught them. The elevator boy's eyes bulged.

"'It's a way I have,' I said, pocketing them.

"'Some bloke's dropped 'em down the shaft,' he whispered, awed by the
circumstance.

"'It stands to reason,' said I.

"'I'll take charge of 'em,' he volunteered.

"'Nonsense!'

"'You'd better turn 'em over,' he threatened, 'or I stop the works.'

"'Pshaw!'

"And stop he did, between floors.

"'Young man,' I said, 'have you a mother?' (He looked serious, as though
regretting his act! and further to impress him I rolled up my right
sleeve with greatest care.) 'Are you prepared to die?' (I got a stealthy
crouch on, and put a cat-foot forward.) 'But a minute, a brief minute,
stands between you and eternity.' (Here I crooked my right hand into a
claw and slid the other foot up.) 'Young man, young man,' I trumpeted,
'in thirty seconds I shall tear your heart dripping from your bosom and
stoop to hear you shriek in hell.'

"It fetched him. He gave one whoop, the car shot down, and I was on the
drag. You see, Anak, it's a habit I can't shake off of leaving vivid
memories behind. No one ever forgets me.

"I had not got to the corner when I heard a familiar voice at my
shoulder:

"'Hello, Cinders! Which way?'

"It was Chi Slim, who had been with me once when I was thrown off a
freight in Jacksonville. 'Couldn't see 'em fer cinders,' he described
it, and the monica stuck by me.... Monica? From monos. The tramp
nickname.

"'Bound south,' I answered. 'And how's Slim?'

"'Bum. Bulls is horstile.'

"'Where's the push?'

"'At the hang-out. I'll put you wise.'

"'Who's the main guy?'

"'Me, and don't yer ferget it.'"

The lingo was rippling from Leith's lips, but perforce I stopped him.
"Pray translate. Remember, I am a foreigner."

"Certainly," he answered cheerfully. "Slim is in poor luck. Bull means
policeman. He tells me the bulls are hostile. I ask where the push is,
the gang he travels with. By putting me wise he will direct me to where
the gang is hanging out. The main guy is the leader. Slim claims that
distinction.

"Slim and I hiked out to a