t settle that with Mr. Daniel Ford, inside. Here, Buttons, you
find Mr. Ford and ask him to step here. It'll be all right, Jehu, and
let's hurry, girls, else we'll be late for dinner."

He started to enter the building but the cabman retained his hold on the
lad's shoulder and remarked:

"No, you don't! You may be all right and so may your Mr. Ford but, as
for me, I never heard tell of him and money talks. Fares, please."

Dorothy and Alfaretta clung together, really afraid of the cabman who
was now growing decidedly angry. He was a stranger to that city and had
just embarked in a rather losing business, his outfit of horse and cab
being a second-hand one and too shabby for most patrons.

Also, "Buttons," as Leslie had called the bell-boy, now returned to say
that "no name of Ford was on the register and the clerk wouldn't
bother."

Here was a dilemma. The trio who had ridden in state now felt very
small, indeed, and glanced at one another in dismay. Then Leslie
surveyed the name over the hotel entrance and exclaimed:

"Pshaw! This isn't the place at all. That donkey of a driver has brought
us to the Metropole and not the Metropolitan. I might have known Dad
wouldn't put up at such a third-rate tavern as this! Now, you idiot,
we'll get in again and you take us where you were bid! and there, it's
likely, you'll make the acquaintance of Mr. Daniel Ford in a way you
don't like! Get in, Dorothy--Alfy! We can't stand foolin' here!"

But the cabman closed the door of his vehicle with a bang and calmly
folded his arms to wait. Dolly pulled out her little purse. It contained
one nickel and two cents. She had carefully cherished these because
coins smaller than a nickel are not plentiful in California; but she
tendered them to Leslie who smiled and shook his head. Alfaretta
discovered a dime, but it was her "luck piece," wrapped in pink tissue
paper and carried thus in order that she "might always have money in her
pocket," and she hated to give it up. Both she and Dolly thought
regretfully of the little pocket-hoard they had begged the Gray Lady to
keep for them, lest they spend it on the trip. However, neither the
cabman nor Leslie accepted their offering, and the latter exclaimed:

"Ain't this rippin'? Lost in a strange city, in the middle of the day,
and not a soul willing to help us out! What in the world will Dad say!"

"What, indeed! But look here, Leslie Ford, we've got enough to pay for
telephoning that other h