Torchy

e hands doin' it. When I'm handed the fresh air on payday, I don't choke to death over it. I

it looked good from the outside, and I blows in through the plate glass merry go round. The arcade w

levators?" says I

g the buildin',

"But say, if you can tear your eyes off the candy counter qu

the Interurban to-day. Would that suit you?" says

a portfolio as head office bo

for you with a net. Here's your car. Up!" and before I kn

The corridor was full of 'em, all sizes, all kinds. It looked like recess time at a boys' orphan asylum, and with me a

The foot for yours, Peac

look like I belonged in your class? Brush by, you

oned names as long as your arm. But the minute I sizes up the inside exhibit I wasn't so anxious. I was lookin' for about a thousand feet of floor space; but all I could see was a couple of six by nines, includin' a clothes closet and a corner washbowl. The

on a weary look. "Mr. Pepper can't see any of you

et won't let me. Is that

nd three chins. He was the kind of a gent you see comin' out of them swell cafés, and he looked like a winner, Mr. Belmont Pepper did. His breakfast seemed to be settin' as well as his coat collar, and you could tell with o

ed duck, "you hold your breat

off the nail, and says to the crowd good and bri

're waitin' to have a group picture

two of 'em struck the door I was on the other side with the key turned. Riot? Well say, you'd thought I'd pinched

st swallows her tuttifrutti, the ostrich necked chap turns pea gree

urself mobbed without being so no

with his mouth open, gawpin' at me, and tryin' to figure out w

pper," says I, "that don't know when to fade. T

that; but he don't. "What makes you

, and a man like you wants a live one around. That's me. Where do I begi

hrown through a door than the next one. But this was a long shot and I was willin' to run the risk. That fat headed s

givin' me the search warrant look-over, and I see he's one of these gents that you can't jar easy. I hadn't rush

he, smooth as a silk li

ead. "Look at that hair! You might's well

s wrinkle a little at the corners. "Very well, Tor

ch things I can get 'em. There's a feller down on

pass that point. Why did

e stiff gives me the fire

se," says Mr. Pepper. "Yo

"If you're lookin' for somethin' that's been in the

that. "Do you like

up an office boy sna

is cigar ashes off on the rug in that careless way a ma

in the office occasionally," says he,

l down more than four per. Givin' book agents the quick back up and runnin' errand

the bell at any crack. That's why I was so free with the hot air. Mr.

assist us in running the affairs of the Glory Be Mining Company. Put him on the pay

"does that me

chosen one

drawn any blank. I'll shinny on your side, Mr. Pepper, as

unches of circulars, stick stamps on the envelopes, and lug 'em up to the general P. O. once a day. That, and chasin' out aft

was a solemn moment for him, and me gettin' a stamp on crooked was a case that called for a heart to heart talk.

day your hand is going to joggle, and there'll be a blo

wo pieces of fudge at noon. I never had much use for her. She called me just Boy, as though I wa'n't hardly human at all. She'd sit and pat that hair of hers by the hour, feelin' to see if all the diff'ren

ut gen'rally they was lookin' for other parties, and we didn't take in money enough over the counter t

t was we didn't have a crowd throwin' money at us. It was good readin', too, almost as excitin' as a nick

Injuns caught him at it and finished the business with hot irons. Then they roasted him over a fire some and turned him loose to enjoy himself. He was tougher'n a motorman, though. He didn't die for years after that; but he never said nothin' about the gold mine until he was nearly all in. Then he told his oldest boy the tale and gave him a map of the place, makin' him

s. Mr. Drummer looks until his eyes ache, and then he hikes himself back East to get up a comp'ny to work the mine. He'd just made plans to build a solid gold mansion on Fifth-ave. and hire John D. Rockefeller for a butler

st. So he gets up this Glory Be Mining Company, and hires Mr. Pepper to sel

nisters. Talk about your easy money! This was like pickin' it off the bushes. Mr. Pepper shows 'em how they

in' 'em a private hunch on a proposition that was all velvet. But say, only about one in

lean by the time it took him to eat lunch. The days when I was sent out to cash five or six money orders, and soak away a bunch of checks, he'd call a cab at twelve-thi

some crank out in Illinois that had splurged on a whole ten dollars' worth of shares, and wrote in about every other da

in' around one noon hour, while I was all by my lonesome, and he asks a whole lot of questions t

what his game was and I wa'n't goin' to give up all I knew to him; so I tells him to call arou

e grins, pats me on the shoulder, and says: "That was just righ

erweight and skipped, and Sweetwater has slid out too, and just as I

ciated in business I have found your services very valuable and yo

" says I. "You're as good as

oks out of the window for a minute before he as

nd Palm Beach don't agree with my health, I'd just

fact is, Torchy, I've had

Glory Be m

I am taking this opportunity for re

some one on hand to answer fool questions, or steer cranks off like that post-office guy that's comin' to-morr

g I knows I'm tellin him about my scheme of wantin' to save up

cinch when it's passed out to 'em," says I, "and I've been thinkin' tha

He opens the safe, counts out a hundred shares of Glory Be

these; but if I raise you a dollar a week and take it out a little at

blamed word that was sensible. I don't know just what I did say, and I never come to until after Mr. Pepper'd finished up and gone, leavin' me with two

t places before mornin', and an hour before bankin' time I was sittin' on the steps of the Treasury Trust concern, waitin' to hire one of them steel pigeon-holes down in the vaults. After I'd got the envelope stowed a

the last two weeks," says Miss Allen.

etie. "It's rough

" says I, "and don't let off any more kno

of the firm, as you might say, it was all right. I'd always had a notion that I'd be a plute some day; but honest, I wa'n't ex

Belmont Pep

last time I saw him

ent, doin' the foiled vil

I. "Mr. Pepper's gone ou

d States Deputy Marshal. Don't you try to tell me any fairy stories, or you'll

rivate office and says he'll wait until Mr. Pepper shows up. He makes a stab at it, too, and a nice long wait he has. I stuck it out for two weeks with him, tryin' to beat it in

d lost. But look at the hole I'm in, after bein' so brash to Mr. Pepper about stayin' on the lid, and him lettin' me write

and flaggin' under another name. But I know better. He's as square as a pavin' block. If he wa'n't

says I. "Your mind need

vin' on crullers and coffee for two days now, and that starter guy says if I don't quit hangin' around the arcade h

want a near-plute as tem