worth, for a
period of say twenty-four hours?"

"I do not know that your silence will be of material benefit to us."

"Well, perhaps not. My knowledge, however, may be of material injury
to you."

"In what way?"

"By the disclosure of it to your opponent."

"What would he do with it?"

"Use it as evidence in this case."

"Well, had you not better go to him?"

Rhyming Joe laid his cigarette aside, straightened up in his chair,
and again faced the lawyer squarely.

"Look here, Mr. Sharpman," he said, "you know, as well as I do, that
the knowledge I hold is extremely dangerous to you. I can back up
my assertion by any amount of corroborative detail. I am thoroughly
familiar with the facts, and if I were to go on the witness-stand
to-morrow for the defendant in this suit, your hopes and schemes would
vanish into thin air. Now, I have no great desire to do this; I have
still a friendly feeling left for Old Simon, and as for the boy, he
is a nice fellow, and I would like to see him prosper. But in my
circumstances, as they are at present, I do not feel that I can afford
to let slip an opportunity to turn an honest penny.

"If a penny saved is a penny earned,
Then a penny found is a penny turned."

Sharpman was still looking calmly at his visitor. "Well?" he said,
inquiringly.

"Well, to make a long story short, if I get two hundred dollars
to-night, I keep my knowledge of Simon Craft and his grandson to
myself. If I don't get two hundred dollars to-night, I go to Goodlaw
the first thing to-morrow morning and offer my services to the
defence. I propose to make the amount of a witness fee out of this
case, at any rate."

"You are attempting a game that will hardly work here," said Sharpman,
severely. "You will find yourself earning two hundred dollars for the
state in the penitentiary of your native city if you persist in that
course."

"Very well, sir; you have heard my story, you have my ultimatum. You
are at liberty to act or not to act as you see fit. If you do not
choose to act it will be unnecessary for me to prolong my visit. I
will have to rise early in the morning, in order to get the first
Wilkesbarre train, and I must retire without delay.

"The adage of the early bird,
My soul from infancy has stirred,
And since the worm I sorely need
I'll practise, now, that thrifty creed."

Rhyming Joe reached for his hat.

Sharpman was growing anxious. There was no doubt that the fellow
mig