s.

"Oh, yes, sir," says he cheerful.

"Just how did you work it?" says I.

"Well," says Vincent, "there was the usual line, of course. And the
agent told three people ahead of me the same thing. 'Only uppers on the
Limited.' So when it came my turn I simply shoved a five through the
grill work and remarked casual: 'I believe you are holding a
drawing-room and a section for me, aren't you?' 'Why, yes,' says he.
'You're just in time, too.' And a couple of years ago he would have done
it for a dollar. Not now, though. It takes a five to pull a drawing-room
these days."

"A swell bunch of grafters Uncle Sam turned back when he let go of the
roads, eh?" says I.

"It's the same in the freight department," says Vincent. "You know that
carload of mill machinery that had been missing for so long? Well, last
week Mr. Robert sent me to the terminal offices for a report on their
tracer. I told him to let me try a ten on some assistant general freight
agent. It worked. He went right out with a switch engine and cut that
car out of the middle of a half-mile long train on a siding, and before
midnight it was being loaded on the steamer."

Also it was Vincent who did the rescue act when we was entertainin' that
bunch of government inspectors who come around once a year to see that
we ain't carryin' any wildcat stocks on our securities list, or haven't
scuttled our sinking fund, or anything like that. Course, our books are
always in such shape that they're welcome to paw 'em over all they like.
That's easy enough. But, still, there's no sense in lettin' 'em nose
around too free. Might dig up something they could ask awkward questions
about. So Old Hickory sees to it that them inspectors has a good time,
which means a suite of rooms at the Plutoria for a week, with dinners
and theatre parties every night. And now with this Volstead act being
pushed so hard it's kind of inconvenient gettin' a crowd of men into the
right frame of mind. Has to be done though, no matter what may have
happened to the constitution.

But this time it seems someone tip at the Ellins home had forgot to
transfer part of the private cellar stock down to the hotel and when Old
Hickory calls up here we has to chase Vincent out there and have him
load two heavy suitcases into a taxi and see that the same are delivered
without being touched by any bellhops or porters. Knew what he was
carryin', Vincent did, and the chance he was taking; but he put over the
ac