up for her--how nice she was to him?"

"Eyah," said Slavin darkly, "I remimber ut! That man"--he darted an
accusing finger at Yorke--"wud thry tu come th' Don Jewan wid anything
wid a shkirrt on--from coast to coast. _Flirrt_? Yeh're tellin' th'
trute, bhoy, yeh're tellin' th' trute! He'd a-made a good undhershtudy
for ould Nobby Guy, down Regina."

He settled himself comfortably and lit his pipe. "Eyah, th' good ould
days, th' good ould days!" he resumed reminiscently, between puffs, "Hark
now till I tell ye th' tale av ould Nobby!"

"Is that the man they used to Josh about, down Regina?" enquired Redmond.
"Used to say 'I'm a man of few words'?"

Slavin nodded affirmatively. "That's him, Sarjint in charrge av th' town
station he was--years back. This is--whin I was Corp'ril at
headquarthers. A foine big roosther av a man was Nobby, wid a mighty
pleasant way wid um--'specially wid th' ladies. Wan night--blarney me
sowl! Will I iver forghet ut? Nobby 'phones up th' Gyard-room
reporthin' th' Iroquois Hotel on fire, an' requestin' th' O.C. for a
shquad av men tu help fight ut, an' kape th' crowd back. So down we
wint, a bunch av us. It sure was a bad fire all right. No lives was
lost, but th' whole shebang was burnt tu th' ground. Kapin' th' crowd
back was our hardest job. Du fwhat we cud, we cud not make some av th'
silly fules kape back clear av th' danger-zone--wimmin an' all, bedad!

"By and by, a section av the wall tumbles an' quite a bunch av people got
badly hurt--Nobby amongst thim. We dhragged thim out as quick as we cud
an' laid them forninst th' wall av a buildin' near-by--awaithin' some
stretcher-bearers. Nobby'd got his leg bruk, but he seemed chipper
enough an' chewed th' rag wid us awhile. Next tu him was a
wumman--cryin' something pitiful--she'd got her leg bruk, tu. Nobby
rised him up on his elbow an' lukked at her.

"Now, 'tis powerful dhry wurrk, bhoys, fightin' fire, an' may be
Nobby--well, I cannot account for ut otherwise--him havin' th' nerve' tu
du' fwhat he did--onless p'raps 't'was just th' natch'ril
tindher-hearthedness av th' man--thryin' for tu comfort her. Afther that
wan luk tho', Nobby he 'comes tu th' halt,' so tu shpake, an' 'marks
time' awhile considherin'--for becod, she was a harrd-lukkin ould
case--long beyant mark av mouth.

"Presintly, sez he: 'I'm a man av few wurrds!--'tis of then I have kissed
a _young_ wumman!'--an' he thwirls th' big buck moustache