hoid, and either died of it or got better, and in the latter event
they resumed the drinking of the city water.

CHAPTER II

William had engaged himself to work for Mr. Charles Whimple,
"barrister, etc.," just one week previously in response to that
gentleman's advertisement for "a bright and intelligent office boy; one
who knows the city well." When he arrived at the office on the morning
after the insertion of the advertisement, Whimple found William busily
engaged in dusting off the lone table in his room. At the back of the
office, with its small, very small, ante-room, was the office of his
friend, Simmons, and as he was usually down an hour earlier than
Whimple, he "opened up" and kept an eye on things for the barrister
until he arrived. As Whimple entered, William greeted him with a
cheery "Good-morning, Mr. Whimple."

"Good-morning, what are you doing here?"

"I'm your office boy."

"You are----"

"Sure," said William cheerily, "I sent the other bunch away."

"The other bunch----"

"Yep; say, Mr. Whimple----"

"But just a minute," Mr. Whimple interrupted, "how did you know my
name? Have we met before?"

"Search me--if we did we wasn't interduced."

"Then how did you know?"

William stopped dusting and regarded him thoughtfully.

"How did you know?" Whimple repeated.

"I always know," the boy repeated slowly, and then, as though communing
with himself, "yes, I always know," and, as to-day, there was that in
William's voice that haunted and held Whimple, as it has done many
since. But that comes later.

William went on still dusting slowly. "Say, Mister Whimple, I mayn't
be much, but the rest of the gang was the greatest c'lection er mutts
you ever seen. Honest, I don't believe there was one of 'em could say
the alphabet without thinking ten minutes first. And I needed the job
most anyway."

"How do you know?"

"Because I looked 'em over good, and I heard 'em saying how many hours'
work they'd do a day and how much they wanted for it, and most of 'em
was saying about how they showed their other bosses what's what. So I
knew they didn't want a job; they just wanted a place to bum in. You
should'er heard me shooing 'em away. I told 'em you had made your
selection and I was IT."

Whimple smiled and William returned the salute. He saw in his employer
a young man, tall, with a brown-eyed, good-looking face, and a head of
red hair. And Whimple saw a rather thin but healthy-loo