they replied in the same breath.

"Good!" Freddy beamed, and held out the hockey tickets. "Use these, if
you like. And half a minute! Here, buy yourselves some little thing,
what? And good luck."

Freddy Farmer added two one-dollar bills to the hockey tickets and
walked away. The two soldiers gaped down at the two tickets and the two
dollars.

"What's the matter with that guy; is he touched?" one of them mumbled.
"And did you hear him, Fuzzy? He didn't even speak English!"

"Who cares?" Fuzzy asked as he came out of his trance. "Two
four-buck-forty hockey tickets, and two bucks in cash! Who cares if the
guy is touched? He's okay by me!"

"Well, well!" Dawson chuckled when Freddy joined him. "Darned if the kid
didn't at that! And even let go of two bucks."

"All I had on me," Freddy said with a smile. "So that makes you the one
to pay for our meal, see?"

"Oh, yeah?" Dawson jeered. "Well, don't look right now, but standing in
your shoes is a guy who's heading for a lot of dish washing in the
Biltmore kitchen!"

CHAPTER TWO

_Just in Case_

"Well?" Freddy Farmer demanded as he leaned across the dining table
toward Dawson. "Did I have a pipe dream, or not? Did you see who just
came in and sat down?"

"Yeah," Dawson grunted, and buttered a roll. "Your pal in gray. I wonder
what's the big idea?"

"So do I!" Freddy echoed instantly. "And I've half a mind to go over
right now and ask him. The beggar is beginning to give me the creeps. He
doesn't look foreign, though."

"Hey, come out of your spin, pal!" Dawson chuckled. "What do you think
this is, Gestapo stuff?"

Freddy Farmer looked at Dawson and smiled slowly.

"I wouldn't know, old thing," he said. "You see, this isn't England, so
I wouldn't know for sure _what_ kind of funny business was afoot."

"Ouch!" Dawson yipped softly, and flung up an arm in front of his face.
"Right in the eye, that time. You're improving each day with your snappy
come-back, my young friend. Keep it up, and you'll be the life of the
party some day. Well, I guess that's all the fodder I want right now.
How's for a stroll around in the beautiful January snow, huh? But it's
probably slush by now, and--Hey! I almost forgot! You think I'm paying
for your meal, don't you? Well--"

"Of course not!" Freddy Farmer cut in quickly. "And just to show my
heart's in the right place, I'll even pay for both of us."

"I wonder if there's a doctor in the house?" Dawson murmured, and