abbit case, when the same mendacious half-soler and heeler had informed
on my friend--well and good; but if not, then, the resources of my
Government would be set in motion for the young man's release.

"The Mayor's first words were: 'Ah, you have come again, is it, Meinherr
Marny; and it is the same young man, too, Herr Fuddles. Well, well, it
is much trouble that you have.' (I'd give it to you in German, old man,
but you wouldn't understand it--this to me in a sort of an aside.)

"Fiddles never moved a muscle of his face. You would have thought that
he was the least interested man in the room. Only once did his features
relax, and that was when the cobbler arrived with his head swathed in
bandages. Then a grim smile flickered about the corners of his mouth, as
if fate had at last overtaken his enemy.

"Of course, the Mayor dismissed the case. Gretchen's tearful, pleading
face, the landlady's positive statement of helping put the dear young
gentleman to bed; the key and the use I had made of it; the reluctant
testimony of the officers, who had tried the knob and could not get in
until I had turned the lock, together with the well-known animosity of
the cobbler (and all because Fiddles had ridiculed his workmanship on
a pair of shoes the boy had left with him to be half-soled), turned the
tide in the lad's favor and sent us all back to the inn rejoicing.

"Some weeks later Fiddles came into my room, locked the door, pulled
down the shades, looked under the bed, in the closet and behind the
curtains, and sat down in front of me. (I had to return to Munich the
next day, and this would be our last night together.)

"You have been very good to me, Master,' he said with a choke in his
voice. 'I love people who are good to me; I hate those who are not. I
have been that way all my life--it would have been better for me if
I hadn't.' Then he leaned forward and took my hand. 'I want you to do
something more for me; I want you to promise me you'll take me home to
America with you when you go. I'm tired dodging these people. I want to
get somewhere where I can shoot and hunt and fish, and nobody can stop
me. I snared that rabbit; been snaring them all summer; going to keep
on snaring them after you're gone. I love to hunt them--love the fun
of it--born that way. And I've got something else to tell you'--here a
triumphant smile flashed over his face--'I smashed that cobbler!'

"'You, Fiddles!' I laughed. 'Why, you were dead dru