arn a few things on that
trip."

"Are you a jerkline skinner?"

"I dunno. Maybe I am. I never tried. But if that's what you wanta
hit--me, too. Say, what's your name?"

"Hiram Hooker."

"That's a peach, all right. They sure labeled you for the part. Mine
ain't much better though. They call me Twitter-or-Tweet."

"What!"

"Proves I'm a bird, don't it? My name is Orr Tweet. Can you beat it?
So they call me Twitter-or-Tweet, or just Twitter--or sometimes
Playmate. I'm gregarious. I gotta have a partner all the time. I'll
play with any o' the little boys so long as they're nice to me."

He handed Hiram a card. It read:

ORR TWEET

REPRESENTING THE CUCAMONGA
DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
Cerro Gordo, Mexico

THE HOMESEEKERS' PROMISED LAND
OF MILK AND HONEY

"That Cucamonga Development Company and the milk-and-honey business is
passe," explained Mr. Tweet, "but I've got no other card. They pinched
the owners, and I flew the coop before they could lay it onto me.
Crooked deal."

"What was it?" Hiram asked vaguely.

"Banana plantation," Tweet replied lightly. "At least they called it
that--I never saw it. I was just promotin' the deal. Well, what d'ye
say?" he persisted. "I'm broke and I need a little cash. But I'm a
money getter! You tide me over this little depression and I'll
remember you. We may strike somethin' that'll look good anywhere
between here and there. If so, we'll drop off and look into it."

Hiram did not know what to say. He had no experience in reading human
nature, and Mr. Tweet would have appeared as an enigma to many more
astute than Hiram.

"What do you want me to do?" he hedged.

"Hold me up, if your coin lasts, till I hit the ball--that's all.
You'll never regret it." Tweet sat pulling his twisted nose from side
to side, as if trying to straighten it.

"But I don't understand. You seem to be--that is, you call yourself a
capitalist, and you're only--I mean it seems funny----"

"I get you. I talk like a millionaire and travel with tramps." Tweet
sighed. "Well, my faculty for breedin' confidence in others is one o'
the big secrets o' my success. Success, I say--get that? If this
faculty won't work on you, then I lose this time. I'll say no more.
Think it over."

He yawned, rose, and started for the door.

"Are--are you goin' down on the street?" Hiram asked timidly.

"Yes, I thought I'd stroll about a bit."

"I--I guess I'll go with you, i