time about it--and me lookin' for trouble
every tick of the clock! But I got an O. K. on it after awhile, and for
a quarter I hired a wagon helper to drag the bundle out and chuck it
into the hansom. Then I climbs in and we made the boat just as the bell
rang. She was pullin' out of the slip when Tolliver rushes out about as
calm as a bulldog chasin' a tramp.

"Say," says the driver, climbin' down to take a look at the baggage,
"who you got sewed in the sack!"

"Get on your perch!" says I. "Ain't you makin' extra money on this? And
when you fetch up at the club, do it like you was used to stoppin' at
such places."

It was a great ride that me and the deer meat had across town and up
Fifth-ave. I'd stopped once to put Mr. Robert next; so he was waitin'
for me out in front of the club, wearin' a grin that was better'n a
breakfast food ad.

But that wa'n't anything to the look on Piddie when Mr. Robert shows up
next mornin' and pats me on the back like I was one of his old Hasty
Puddin' chums.

"Piddie," says I, "look what it is to be born handsome and lucky, all in
one throw!"

CHAPTER III

MEETING UP WITH THE GREAT SKID

Next time you nabs me writin' a form sheet on any unknown, you can hang
out the waste paper sign and send me to the scows. Look at the mess I
makes of this here Mallory business! Why, first off I has him billed for
a Percy boy that had strayed into the general office from the drygoods
district. He had a filin' job in the bond room, and when he drew his
envelope on Saturdays it must have set the Corrugated Trust back for as
much as twelve D.

Course, I didn't pay no attention to him, until one noon I finds him in
the next chair at the dairy lunch. He's got his mug of half white and
half black, and his two corned beef splits, with plenty of mustard, and
he's just squarin' off for a foodfest, when I squats down with two hunks
of pie and all the cheese I could get at one grab.

"Hello, Algy!" says I. "Where's the charlotte russe and the cup of tea?"

"Beg pardon," says he; "were you speaking to me?"

"Sure," says I. "You didn't think I was makin' that crack at the
armchair, did you? Maybe we ain't been introduced; but we're on the same
payroll."

"Oh, yes," says he, "I remember now. You're the--the----"

"Go on, say it," says I. "I don't mind if it is red, and I lets anybody
call me Torchy that wants to, even Willies."

"Well, now, that's nice of you," says he, sidetrackin' a bite