y ideals and training nothing but discouragement and
defeat would be my portion. Oh, it is so easy to drift!

I was sick of the whole business.

CHAPTER X

What with steamer fare and a few small debts to settle, I found when I
landed in San Francisco that once more I was flatly broke. I was
arrestively seedy, literally on my uppers, for owing to my long tramp my
boots were barely holding together. There was no letter for me, and
perhaps it was on account of my disappointment, perhaps on account of my
extreme shabbiness, but I found I had quite lost heart. Looking as I
did, I would not ask any one for work. So I tightened my belt and sat in
Portsmouth Square, cursing myself for the many nickels I had squandered
in riotous living.

Two days later I was still drawing in my belt. All I had eaten was one
meal, which I had earned by peeling half a sack of potatoes for a
restaurant. I slept beneath the floor of an empty house out the Presidio
way.

On this day I was drowsing on my bench when some one addressed me.

"Say, young fellow, you look pretty well used up."

I saw an elderly, grey-haired man.

"Oh no!" I said, "I'm not. That's just my acting. I'm a millionaire in
disguise, studying sociology."

He came and sat by me.

"Come, buck up, kid, you're pretty near down and out. I've been
studyin' you them two days."

"Two days," I echoed drearily. "It seems like two years." Then, with
sudden fierceness:

"Sir, I am a stranger to you. Never in my life before have I tried to
borrow money. It is asking a great deal of you to trust me, but it will
be a most Christian act. I am starving. If you have ten cents that isn't
working lend it to me for the love of God. I'll pay you back if it takes
me ten years."

"All right, son," he said cheerfully; "let's go and feed."

He took me to a restaurant where he ordered a dinner that made my head
swim. I felt near to fainting, but after I had had some brandy, I was
able to go on with the business of eating. By the time I got to the
coffee I was as much excited by the food as if I had been drinking wine.
I now took an opportunity to regard my benefactor.

He was rather under medium height, but so square and solid you felt he
was a man to be reckoned with. His skin was as brown as an Indian's, his
eyes light-blue and brightly cheerful, as from some inner light. His
mouth was firm and his chin resolute. Altogether his face was a curious
blend of benevolence and ruthl