e to that yet," returned Veitel, with all the composure
he could. "How do you know that the police are at your heels?"

"The children in the street are talking of it," cried Hippus. "I heard
it in the street when I was going to creep back to my hole. It was a
mere chance that they did not find me in my room. They are in my house,
standing on the steps, waiting till I come. You must hide me! I must
have money! I will cross the border. I can't stay here any longer; you
must send me off."

"Send you off!" repeated Itzig, gloomily. "Where to, pray?"

"Any where--where the police can not reach me--over the frontier--to
America."

"And suppose I don't choose?" said Itzig, in a tone of enmity.

"You will choose, simpleton. Are you green enough not to know what I
shall do if you don't get me out of this scrape, you varlet? They'll
have quick ears at the criminal courts for what I have to tell of you."

"You would not be so wicked as to betray an old friend," said Veitel, in
a tone that he vainly tried to make pathetic. "Do look at things more
calmly. What danger is there, even if they do arrest you? Who can prove
any thing? For want of proof they will have to let you off. You know the
law as well as the judges do."

"Indeed!" screamed the old man, spitefully. "You think I shall go to
prison for the sake of a fellow like you? that I shall sit eating bread
and water, while you are feeding upon the fat of the land, and laughing
at the old ass Hippus? I will not go to prison; I will be off; and, till
I can get off, you must hide me."

"You can't remain here," darkly replied Veitel. "There is no safety here
for you or me. Jacob would betray you; the people in the house would
find out that you were here."

"Where best to take me is your look-out," said the man; "but I demand
your help, or--"

"Hold your jaw!" said Veitel, "and listen to me. If I were disposed to
give you money, and get you off by railroad to Hamburg, and over the
sea, I could not do so immediately nor without aid. You must be taken by
night a few miles hence to some small station on the line. I dare not
hire a conveyance--that might betray you; and, as you are, you can not
walk. I must look out for some opportunity of getting you off safely.
Meanwhile, I must get you to some place that the police do not know you
to frequent, for I fear they will look for you here. If you don't go
home, they will probably come here this very night. I must go and
inquire fo