h a few specimens he
lifted somewhere."

Besides three hams there were coffee, cartons of crackers and cans of
condensed milk.

"We fellows who live by our wits need the open air just as much as bank
presidents, for our business makes a heavier drain on the nerves,"
continued the Governor after they had prepared breakfast. "Your pallor
suggests that you may have emerged quite recently from one of those
institutions designed for the moral reconstruction of the weak and
erring."

Archie's eyes fell under the Governor's keen gaze. But he realized that
he must firmly establish himself in the man's confidence by palming
himself off as a crook with a prison record. In no other way could he be
sure of the assistance and protection which the Governor alone could
give him.

"Three months' jail sentence," he replied smoothly.

"Ah! A minor felony, I judge, from the brevity of your incarceration,"
replied the Governor, emptying the coffee pot into Archie's cup. "I have
never been in jail and to the best of my knowledge I have never been
indicted; or if I have the sheriff has never caught up with me! My heart
bleeds nevertheless for these poor devils who are always in the toils,
and in my poor weak fashion I try to help them. Really, my dear Archie,
thieves as a class are shockingly deficient in intelligence. Until I
dropped into the underworld they were a peculiarly helpless lot--like
dear old Hoky whose loss I shall mourn to my dying day."

Archie flinched, but he was beginning to feel at home in his new role of
a fugitive from justice, and murmured his sympathy without a quaver.

"My friend," said the Governor soberly as they rose from the table, "we
have dipped our hands in the same dish and broken bread together. I'm
strong for the old traditions of Arab hospitality and that sort of
thing. There's honor, you know, among thieves, and I'm rather keen for
the sentimental side of the business. You may trust me, telling me as
much or as little of yourself as you please. I don't mind saving that
you're a likable chap, but pathetically helpless in emergencies like
most of our brethren. It's well for you that you fell in with me, with
that little episode of the drug store hanging over you. I'll be a good
pal to you and I ask you to be straight with me. Are we friends or--"

He put out his hand questioningly. Archie grasped it, meeting the gaze
of the keen gray eyes squarely, but with something of an appeal in them.

"All ri