atural materials, and them's the kind
which goes off trains from time to time. And us two, being for the
moment in this class, we are much gratified by the circumstance.

"And we sits up and dusts ourselves off in a nonchalant manner while
the little old choo-choo continues upon her way to Utica, Syracuse, and
all points west, leaving me and the Sweet Caps Kid with all the bright
world before us, and nothing behind us but the police force.

"For some months previous to this, me and the Sweet Caps Kid has been
sojourning in that favored metropolis which is bounded on one side by a
loud Sound and on the other by a steep Bluff, and is doing her constant
best at all times to live up to the surroundings. Needless to say, I
refer to little Noo Yawk, the original haunt of the come-on and the
native habitat of the sure thing, where the jays bite freely and the
woods are full of fish. We have been doing very well there--very, very
well, considering. What with working the nuts on the side streets right
off Broadway and playing a little three-card monte down round Coney in
the cool of the evening and once in a while selling a sturdy husbandman
from over Jersey way a couple of admission tickets to Central Park, we
have found no cause to complain at the business depression. It sure
looks to us like confidence has been restored and any time she seems a
little backward we take steps to restore her some ourselves. But all of
a sudden, something seems to tell me that we oughter be moving.

"You know how them mysterious premonitions comes to a feller. A little
bird whispers to you, or you have a dream, or else you walk into the
mitt-joint and hand a he-note to a dark complected lady wearing a red
kimono and a brown mustache, and she takes a flash at your palm and
seems to see a dark man coming with a warrant, followed by a trip up a
great river to a large stone building like a castle. Or else
Headquarters issues a general alarm, giving names, dates, personal
description, size of reward and place where last seen. This time it's a
general alarm. From what I could gather, a downcasted Issy Wisenheimer
has been up to the front parlor beefing about his vanishing bankroll and
his disappearing breast-pin. You wouldn't think a self-respecting
citizen of a great Republic like this'n would carry on so over
thirty-eight dollars in currency and a diamond so yeller it woulda been
a topaz if it had been any yellower. But such was indeed the case. I