aper men, was at his elbow. He laid a
morning paper before him, pointed to certain big letters and retired.
Then the business of the court suspended while the court read the news.
After a moment or two the magistrate looked up.

"Prisoner," he said, sharply, "take your left sleeve out of your
breast!" Rowland obeyed mechanically, and it dangled at his side. The
magistrate noticed, and read on. Then he folded the paper and said:

"You are the man who was rescued from an iceberg, are you not?" The
prisoner bowed his head.

"Discharged!" The word came forth in an unjudicial roar. "Madam," added
the magistrate, with a kindling light in his eye, "this man has merely
saved your child's life. If you will read of his defending it from a
polar bear when you go home, I doubt that you will tell it any more bear
stories. Sharp instrument--umph!" Which was equally unjudicial on the
part of the court.

Mrs. Selfridge, with a mystified and rather aggrieved expression of
face, left the court-room with her indignant father and friends, while
Myra shouted profanely for Rowland, who had fallen into the hands of the
reporters. They would have entertained him after the manner of the
craft, but he would not be entertained--neither would he talk. He
escaped and was swallowed up in the world without; and when the evening
papers appeared that day, the events of the trial were all that could be
added to the story of the morning.

CHAPTER XVI

On the morning of the next day, a one-armed dock lounger found an old
fish-hook and some pieces of string which he knotted together; then he
dug some bait and caught a fish. Being hungry and without fire, he
traded with a coaster's cook for a meal, and before night caught two
more, one of which he traded, the other, sold. He slept under the
docks--paying no rent--fished, traded, and sold for a month, then paid
for a second-hand suit of clothes and the services of a barber. His
changed appearance induced a boss stevedore to hire him tallying cargo,
which was more lucrative than fishing, and furnished, in time, a hat,
pair of shoes, and an overcoat. He then rented a room and slept in a
bed. Before long he found employment addressing envelopes for a mailing
firm, at which his fine and rapid penmanship secured him steady work;
and in a few months he asked his employers to indorse his application
for a Civil Service examination. The favor was granted, the examination
easily passed, and he addressed enve