r and around them streamed a throng of
men, women, and children, pitying, anxious, or merely curious, but, now
that the danger was past, all equally voluble with suggestions or advice.

Dale rose slowly to his feet, and stood for a moment staring after them
with a troubled frown. "Why don't they give him air?" he said. "If only
they wouldn't bunch around him like that--"

He paused hesitatingly, watching the procession mount the steps and cross
a wide veranda. The stress and excitement that had dominated him till
now seemed to have vanished, and a reaction set in. He wondered whether
folks wouldn't think him too "fresh" for thrusting himself forward as
he had done. The remembrance of the man to whom he had talked back made
him wriggle uncomfortably; it was one of his oldest customers. "Gee!" he
muttered, with a touch of uneasiness; "I reckon I must have sassed him
pretty well, too!"

Dusk had given place to night. Under a flaring gas-light at the curb
two early arrivals, who had stayed behind to guard the deadly, dangling
wire, were busy explaining the situation to several wide-eyed later
comers. They formed an animated group, and Dale, standing in the shadow
behind them, felt curiously out of it and alone. The wind, sweeping
up the street, struck through his wet clothes and made him shiver.

"Time I was getting started," he thought. "It must be awful late."

As he bent over to pick up his bag, the movement set his head to
throbbing afresh. His exploring fingers encountered a lump, where he
had hit the curb, that felt about the size of an ostrich-egg. Dale's
forehead wrinkled, and he opened the bag mechanically, only to find
the remaining papers were soaked through and ruined. Those he had wrapped
around his hands lay in the mud at his feet, soggy masses of pulp. And he
had delivered only four out of the lot!

Dale tried to smile, but his lips only quivered. With a second, more
determined, effort, he clenched his teeth tightly, slung the empty bag
over his shoulder, and started back toward the news-stand. But he went in
silence. Somehow the usual whistle was impossible.

CHAPTER II

THE NEW TENDERFOOT

It was close to half past seven before Dale delivered his last paper. He
had been delayed in the beginning by old Jed Hathaway's having to know
all about it, and insisting on hearing every little detail before he
could be induced to provide a second supply. Dale tried to be patient
under the cross-examin