shing it with his hands as he went down. There he stayed, his
forehead pressed against his knuckles.

Once more Cis began to weep, in pity for his suffering. "Oh, don't you
feel so bad!" she pleaded. "Just try to remember that we're going away,
Johnnie! Mr. Perkins'll take us both, and Big Tom'll never see us again!
And I love you, Johnnie, and so does Mrs. Kukor, and Father Pat, and
One-Eye, and Mr. Perkins!"

"I know!" groaned the boy. "I--I'll try t' think."

"Mister Perkins!" scoffed the longshoreman. "Who cares about _that_ tony
guy? If he ever pokes his head into this flat again, I'll stick _him_
into the stove!" The shirt followed the leggings, after which, with a
dull clanking of the stove lids, he covered the firebox.

"But my jacket's burnin'," Johnnie sobbed. "My nice jacket! And the
medal! Oh, the beautiful medal!"

"He'll pay for it!" vowed Cis. "You'll see! I know one person that'll
make him pay!--for hitting me, and tying me up, and burning your things!
Just you wait, Johnnie! It'll all come out right! This isn't over yet!
No, it isn't!"

Barber was laughing again. The top of the stove was a reddening black.
Upon it now he threw all the books; whereupon little threads of smoke
began to ascend--white smoke, piercing the darker smoke of the burning
hat and uniform.

As the books struck the stove, Johnnie had once more turned his head to
look, and, "Oh, my _Robinson Crusoe_!" he burst out now. "Oh, Aladdin!
And dear Galahad!" This was more than the destruction of stories: this
was the perishing of friends.

"Never mind, dear Johnnie! Never mind!" The voice of the comforter was
strong and clear.

Once more a stove lid rattled. Big Tom was putting the first book upon
the fire. It was the beloved _Last of the Mohicans_. Johnnie's tearful
eyes knew it by the brown binding. He groaned. "Oh, it's Uncas!" he told
Cis. "Oh, my story! I'll never read y' again!"

"He'll wish a hundred times he'd never done it!" declared Cis. "It'll
cost him something, I can tell you! He'll pay for them all, over and
over!"

"Is that so?" Barber was amused. Now he threw the other books after the
first. After that, he lounged to and fro, waiting till it was certain
that even no part of the volumes would fail to be consumed. As he
sauntered, he found his sack of smoking tobacco and refilled that pipe
which had been the innocent cause of all Johnnie's misfortune.

With Big Tom away from the stove, the boy rose and crossed t