eless than
a folding toothbrush? Don't try--you can't. That's the beauty of it.
But, Bill, make no mistake--that's where you get the heterogeneous
sucker! Has there ever been a folding toothbrush! Never! That's where
they bite! Think of it--no one's ever had one before. How do they know
whether they want one until they've tried it? They've had a bicycle or a
kodak, but a _folding toothbrush_, Bill--think what it means! Get the
sound of it. Why, Bill, it's sunk into your imagination already! You've
got the hankering yourself. You have. I can feel it!"

"Wall, now, I would sorter like a squint at one."

"And you shall," said Macnooder, reaching into his pocket. But at this
moment he stopped, perceiving Skippy, who, lost in wonder, was
listening, all ears.

"I beg your pardon, Doc, honest, I couldn't help hearing," he said
hastily.

"This is a private conversation," said Macnooder severely.

"I say, Doc," said Skippy, gazing at the package which had come forth
from an inner pocket, "I say, Doc, can't I just have one look at it?"

"You can _not_," said Macnooder, whose hand indicated the exit in the
classic gesture of melodrama when the cruel father dismisses the
penniless lover.

Skippy drew a long breath, hesitated and went slowly out. But what a
world had opened before him! It was something to be a benefactor of
humanity, but why not tap the wealth of the Incas! If the mere invention
of a folding toothbrush could open the sacred precincts of Fifth Avenue,
what realms beyond the dreams of avarice were waiting for him who should
revolutionize the bathtub!

CHAPTER IV

LONELINESS OF GREAT MEN

THE course of his meditations suddenly halted before the Jigger Shop.
They were all there; the fortunate possessors of dimes and nickels,
gluttonously, selfishly gorging themselves with juicy creamy strawberry,
coffee, and chocolate jiggers; clinking their glasses, licking their
spoons--and he, John C. Bedelle, the future Bathtub King, without a cent
in his pockets! The irony of it! If they only knew, what sycophants
would fawn upon him! Then an idea came to him--at such moments alone can
man read the secret heart of humanity. He would make a test of true
friendship.

He passed through the outer rapturous fringe of hungry boyhood and
slowly approached the counter where Al, guardian of the jigger, dished
out the jiggers and watched the counters with uneasy eye. Not that he
had any hope, but it was only fair to gi