out him.
There was so little room on the sidewalk that I suggested we two walk
ahead; and I shoved him right into the middle of the walk and made
Allison and Briggs fall behind. I had a piece of luck just then. Old
Pete and his sawed-off cab came by and I flagged him in a minute. I
shoved Smith in and got in after him. Then I told the two babes that I
could take care of Smith all right and that there was no need of their
walking clear up to the house. After that I shut the door and we came
away. If looks could kill I'd be tuning up my harp this minute. Say, if
I didn't have any more nerve than those two I'd get a permit from the
city to live. And all the time Smith never made a kick. I had him
hypnotized. Now I'm going in and make him jump through a hoop."

We should have been very happy--and we would have been, but just then
Symington came in with some astounding news. The Alfalfa Delts had a man
named Smith, of Chicago, over at their house. He was on the front porch,
with the whole gang around him; and from the looks of things they'd have
him benevolently assimilated before twenty-four hours. Naturally this
created a tremendous lot of emotion around our house. It was a serious
situation. We might have the right Smith and then again we might have a
Smith who would be borrowing money for car fare inside of ten minutes.
We had to find out which Smith it was before we tampered with his young
affections.

Did you ever snuggle up to a young captain of industry and ask him who
his father was and whether he was important enough in the business world
to be indicted by the Government for anything? That was the job we
tackled that night. Smith was meek enough, but somehow even Petey's
nerve had its limits. We approached the subject from every corner of the
compass. We led up to it, we beat around it--and finally we got
desperate and led the boy up to it. But he was too shy to come down with
the information. Yes, he lived in Chicago. Oh, on the North Side. Yes,
he guessed the stock market was stronger. Yes, the Annex was a great
hotel. No, he didn't know whether they were going to put a tower on the
Board of Trade or not. Yes, the lake Shore Drive was dusty in
summer.--[Good!]--He wouldn't care to live on it.--[Bah!]--Altogether he
was as unsatisfactory to pump as a well full of dusty old brickbats.
Just then Rawlins, who had been scouting around seeing what he could run
against in the dark of the moon, arrived with the stunning