ork
with the youngster, and got into the waiter business. Meantime the boy
grows up in East Side boardin'-houses, without much lookin' after, and
when Pinckney finds him he's an int'restin' product. He's twenty-odd,
about five feet eleven high, weighs under one hundred and thirty, has a
shock of wavy, brick-red hair that almost hides his ears, and his chief
accomplishments are playin' Kelly pool and consumin' cigarettes. By way
of ornament he has the most complete collection of freckles I ever see on
a human face, or else it was they stood out more prominent because the
skin was so white between the splotches. We didn't invent the name Spotty
for him. He'd already been tagged that.

Well, Pinckney discovers that Spotty has been livin' on the few dollars
that was left after payin' old Peter's plantin' expenses; that he didn't
know what he was goin' to do after that was gone, and didn't seem to
care. So Pinckney jumps in, works his pull with the steward, and has
Spotty put on reg'lar in the club billiard room as an attendant. All he
has to do is help with the cleanin', keep the tables brushed, and set up
the balls when there are games goin' on. He gets his meals free, and six
dollars a week.

Now that should have been a soft enough snap for anybody, even the born
tired kind. There wa'n't work enough in it to raise a palm callous on a
baby. But Spotty, he improves on that. His idea of earnin' wages is to
curl up in a sunny windowseat and commune with his soul. Wherever you
found the sun streamin' in, there was a good place to look for Spotty. He
just seemed to soak it up, like a blotter does ink, and it didn't disturb
him any who was doin' his work.

Durin' the first six months Spotty was fired eight times, only to have
Pinckney get him reinstated, and it wa'n't until the steward went to the
board of governors with the row that Mr. Cahill was given his permanent
release. You might think Pinckney would have called it quits then; but
not him! He'd started out to godfather Spotty, and he stays right with
the game. Everybody he knew was invited to help along the good work of
givin' Spotty a lift. He got him into brokers' offices, tried him out as
bellhop in four diff'rent hotels, and even jammed him by main strength
into a bank; but Spotty's sun absorbin' habits couldn't seem to be made
useful anywhere.

For one while he got chummy with Swifty Joe and took to sunnin' himself
in the studio front windows, until I had to veto