at, the smart broadcloth and starched linen, they recognized the
presence of one of the upper classes and looked black. A murmur arose,
growing in strength and hostility, and a voice suggested with painful
clarity the dissection of his internal organs.

Tony took in the situation: another minute, and grumbling threats might
be exchanged for action of an unpleasant kind; there was not a moment to
lose. "Let me show you a thing, comrades!" he said brightly; and before
the smoldering wrath could burst into flame he took off his hat and
smote it. The fabric collapsed with a ridiculous _klop_, and the crowd,
taken by surprise and ready to laugh at the mere trifle, roared. Tony
spun it into the air with a careless grace, far over the heads of the
throng; and as all eyes were fixed on its trajectory he pushed his way
forward. "A moment, please!" he urged, shouldering on toward the shop.
"By your leave, sir! Excuse me, friend! Beg pardon, brother!" And
behold! he was standing beside the auctioneer.

The latter glared his enmity, refusing to budge, but Tony took no heed.
All trace of boredom gone, his eyes aglow with eagerness, he
gesticulated for silence. The strikers, not wholly recovered from their
surprise, postponed, at least for the time being, the suggested
vivisection, and waited for Tony to justify himself. He was a fluent
speaker, and lost no time in beginning.

"Comrades!" he cried, "you see me as I am! I am in the unhappy position
of being without a hat and in evening dress. Unlooked-for events put me
in a train this morning, and it was not until the train had started that
I realized my absurd costume. What was I to do? Chance settled the
question. Chance brought me here into your delightful neighborhood, and
what do I find? A good fairy, as it were, distributing clothes for
nothing!" At this point a voice called for "Cheers for the----fairy!"
which were heartily given. The fairy, unused to badinage, retired from
the rostrum, and Tony was quick to jump up. "You see, comrades, that I
got a rise: may you soon get the same--may you get what you are asking
for!" A tornado of cheers covered his corollary, "viz., six months
hard," uttered in an undertone. Feeling was shifting a little in his
favor now, and he swept on. "Here, I thought, is my opportunity! I am an
outcast, dressed in the ridiculous garb civilization imposes on her
sons--the pampered scions of the aristocracy! You have seen me discard
my allegiance to the