ok for us."

"There will be no procession."

Then to the boy old Adelbert poured out the bitterness of his soul. He
showed where he had torn down the King's picture, and replaced it with
one of a dying stag. He reviewed his days in the hospital, and the
hardships through which he had passed, to come to this. The King had
forgotten his brave men.

Bobby listened. "Pretty soon there won't be any kings," he observed. "My
father says so. They're out of date."

"Aye," said old Adelbert.

"It would be kind of nice if you had a president. Then, if he acted up,
you could put him out."

"Aye," said old Adelbert again.

During the rest of the day Bobby considered. No less a matter than the
sharing of a certain secret occupied his mind. Now; half the pleasure
of a secret is sharing it, naturally, but it should be with the right
person. And his old playfellow was changed. Bobby, reflecting, wondered
whether old Adelbert would really care to join his pirate crew,
consisting of Tucker and himself. On the next day, however, he put the
matter to the test, having resolved that old Adelbert needed distraction
and cheering.

"You know," he said, talking through the window of the booth, "I think
when I grow up I'll be a pirate."

"There be worse trades," said old Adelbert, whose hand was now against
every man.

"And hide treasure," Bobby went on. "In a--in a cave, you know. Did you
ever read 'Treasure Island'?"

"I may have forgotten it. I have read many things."

"You'd hardly forget it. You know--

'Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.'"

Old Adelbert rather doubted the possibility of fifteen men on one dead
man's chest, but he nodded gravely. "A spirited song," he observed.

Bobby edged closer to the window. "I've got the cave already."

"So!"

"Here, in the Park. It is a great secret. I'd like to show it to you.
Only it's rather hard to get to. I don't know whether you'd care to
crawl through the bushes to it."

"A cave--here in the Park?"

"I'll take you, if you'd like to see it."

Old Adelbert was puzzled. The Park offered, so far as he knew, no place
for a cave. It was a plain, the site of the old wall; and now planted in
grass and flowers. He himself had seen it graded and sown. A cave!

"Where?"

"That's a secret. But I'll show it to you, if you won't tell."

Old Adelbert agreed to silence. In fact, he repeated after the boy, in
English he did not unde