ures had figured,
and in which so many odd things had been said and done. But one rainy
day he seemed to be more affected by those reminiscences than he had
ever been before, and so he settled back on the window-seat, and gave
himself up entirely to thoughts of the-ex-Pirate, the Sheep, the
Reformed Burglar, and to all the quaint creatures of his acquaintance.
He was smiling quietly to himself at some of the funny things Thingumbob
had said on the beach, when all of a sudden he thought he heard somebody
knocking on the door. Nobody ever knocked before coming into Tommy's
play-room, and so the little boy looked up in a curious way, wondering
who it could be, and wishing that no one would come in to disturb his
reverie. The door was ajar, but he could see that there was some person
standing out in the hall. Presently there was another knock. Tommy
straightened up on the window-seat, and called out,

"Come in!"

The door swung slowly inward, and who should be standing there looking
straight at Tommy but his old friend the ex-Pirate! It was the same old
ex-Pirate of days and days ago, with his fierce mustaches and long hair,
and his big pistols sticking out of his sash. He looked at Tommy for a
moment, just as if he wanted to make sure that he was calling on the
right little boy, and then a pleasant smile spread all over his face,
and he walked rapidly across the room. Tommy jumped from the window-seat
and hastened to meet him.

"Why, I'm awfully glad to see you!" he exclaimed. "How do you do, Mr.
ex-Pirate? And how did you get up here?"

The ex-Pirate laughed, and shook hands with Tommy, and then he said:
"Oh, I just came. Things come and go, you know; and I just came. Wasn't
it nice?"

"Awfully nice," said Tommy, enthusiastically. "I've been thinking a lot
about you. I was beginning to think you were not real."

"Oh yes, I'm real," asserted the ex-Pirate. "Just as real as you are."

"Perhaps _I'm_ not real," suggested Tommy; and then, becoming alarmed at
the thought, he felt in his pockets, and pulled at his hair to see if he
was all there. Reassured on that point he added, "Where is the Sheep?"

"I guess he's running yet," answered the ex-Pirate, laughing. "Poor
fellow; I left him 'way behind. But I never saw anybody run like _you_
in all my life. You ran faster than Time, and Time runs pretty fast now,
I tell you! He can go pretty near as fast as Money--and you know how
fast Money goes."

Tommy did not know h