the coop with Chunk McGowan."

"You will excuse me, Chunk," said Ikey. "I must make a prescription that
is to be called for soon."

"Say," said McGowan, looking up suddenly, "say, Ikey, ain't there a drug
of some kind--some kind of powders that'll make a girl like you better
if you give 'em to her?"

Ikey's lip beneath his nose curled with the scorn of superior
enlightenment; but before he could answer, McGowan continued:

"Tim Lacy told me he got some once from a croaker uptown and fed 'em to
his girl in soda water. From the very first dose he was ace-high and
everybody else looked like thirty cents to her. They was married in less
than two weeks."

Strong and simple was Chunk McGowan. A better reader of men than Ikey
was could have seen that his tough frame was strung upon fine wires.
Like a good general who was about to invade the enemy's territory he
was seeking to guard every point against possible failure.

"I thought," went on Chunk hopefully, "that if I had one of them powders
to give Rosy when I see her at supper to-night it might brace her up and
keep her from reneging on the proposition to skip. I guess she don't
need a mule team to drag her away, but women are better at coaching than
they are at running bases. If the stuff'll work just for a couple of
hours it'll do the trick."

"When is this foolishness of running away to be happening?" asked Ikey.

"Nine o'clock," said Mr. McGowan. "Supper's at seven. At eight Rosy goes
to bed with a headache. At nine old Parvenzano lets me through to his
back yard, where there's a board off Riddle's fence, next door. I go
under her window and help her down the fire-escape. We've got to make it
early on the preacher's account. It's all dead easy if Rosy don't balk
when the flag drops. Can you fix me one of them powders, Ikey?"

Ikey Schoenstein rubbed his nose slowly.

"Chunk," said he, "it is of drugs of that nature that pharmaceutists
must have much carefulness. To you alone of my acquaintance would I
intrust a powder like that. But for you I shall make it, and you shall
see how it makes Rosy to think of you."

Ikey went behind the prescription desk. There he crushed to a powder two
soluble tablets, each containing a quarter of a grain of morphia. To
them he added a little sugar of milk to increase the bulk, and folded
the mixture neatly in a white paper. Taken by an adult this powder would
insure several hours of heavy slumber without danger to the sleeper.