. Leslie."

"Fine feathers make fine birds, you know, and a neat dress always
increases the chances of an applicant for employment, though, when it
is carried too far, it is apt to excite suspicion. I remember a friend
of mine advertised for a bookkeeper. Among the applicants was a young
man wearing a sixty-dollar suit, a ruffled shirt, a handsome gold
watch and a diamond pin. He was a man of taste, and he was strongly
impressed with the young man's elegant appearance. So, largely upon
the strength of these, he engaged him, and in less than six months
discovered that he had been swindled to the extent of eight hundred
dollars by his aesthetic bookkeeper."

"Then I will leave my diamond pin at home," said Dodger, smiling.
"Suppose they ask me for recommendations?"

"I will go with you and indorse you. I happen to know one or two
prominent gentlemen in San Francisco--among them the president of a
bank--and I presume my indorsement will be sufficient."

Dodger went back to the hotel, put on a suit of Mr. Leslie's, got his
boots blacked, and then, in company with the young reporter, went to
the express office.

"I am afraid some one will have been engaged already," said the
reporter; "but if not, your chances will be good."

They entered a good-sized office on a prominent street, and Dodger
inquired for Mr. Tucker.

A small man of about forty, keen-eyed and alert, eyed him attentively.

"I am Mr. Tucker," he said.

"I saw your advertisement for an assistant, Mr. Tucker," said Dodger,
modestly; "have you filled the place?"

"Let me see," said Tucker, reflectively, "you are the ninth young man
who has applied--but the place is still open."

"Then I am afraid you won't want me, as you have rejected so many."

"I don't know. How long have you been in the city?"

"I only just arrived."

"Where from?"

"From New York."

"Have you any idea of going to the mines when you get money enough?"

"I think I would prefer to remain in the city."

"Good! How is your education?"

"I have never been to college," answered Dodger, with a smile.

"Good! I don't care for your college men. I am a practical man
myself."

"I am a poor scholar, but Mr. Leslie tells me I write a fair hand."

"Let me see a specimen of your writing."

Now Dodger had taken special pains on the voyage to improve his
penmanship, with excellent results.

So it happened that the specimen which he furnished had the good
fortune to please Mr. Tu