riter in its case and carried it down
into Oakland.

"I owe a month on it," he told the clerk in the store. "But you tell the
manager I'm going to work and that I'll be in in a month or so and
straighten up."

He crossed on the ferry to San Francisco and made his way to an
employment office. "Any kind of work, no trade," he told the agent; and
was interrupted by a new-comer, dressed rather foppishly, as some
workingmen dress who have instincts for finer things. The agent shook
his head despondently.

"Nothin' doin' eh?" said the other. "Well, I got to get somebody
to-day."

He turned and stared at Martin, and Martin, staring back, noted the
puffed and discolored face, handsome and weak, and knew that he had been
making a night of it.

"Lookin' for a job?" the other queried. "What can you do?"

"Hard labor, sailorizing, run a type-writer, no shorthand, can sit on a
horse, willing to do anything and tackle anything," was the answer.

The other nodded.

"Sounds good to me. My name's Dawson, Joe Dawson, an' I'm tryin' to
scare up a laundryman."

"Too much for me." Martin caught an amusing glimpse of himself ironing
fluffy white things that women wear. But he had taken a liking to the
other, and he added: "I might do the plain washing. I learned that much
at sea." Joe Dawson thought visibly for a moment.

"Look here, let's get together an' frame it up. Willin' to listen?"

Martin nodded.

"This is a small laundry, up country, belongs to Shelly Hot
Springs,--hotel, you know. Two men do the work, boss and assistant. I'm
the boss. You don't work for me, but you work under me. Think you'd be
willin' to learn?"

Martin paused to think. The prospect was alluring. A few months of it,
and he would have time to himself for study. He could work hard and
study hard.

"Good grub an' a room to yourself," Joe said.

That settled it. A room to himself where he could burn the midnight oil
unmolested.

"But work like hell," the other added.

Martin caressed his swelling shoulder-muscles significantly. "That came
from hard work."

"Then let's get to it." Joe held his hand to his head for a moment.
"Gee, but it's a stem-winder. Can hardly see. I went down the line last
night--everything--everything. Here's the frame-up. The wages for two
is a hundred and board. I've ben drawin' down sixty, the second man
forty. But he knew the biz. You're green. If I break you in, I'll be
doing plenty of y