's counter in the restaurant. From the
little window inclosure came the clicking of typewriter keys, a little
more spirited than before. Hiram had strategically chosen the slack
business hour of the morning. He had eaten breakfast in a cheaper
restaurant, two blocks down the street. He had not seen Tweet. He had
been walking about the streets since six o'clock.

The keys kept clicking. Hiram cleared his throat several times, and at
last, as before, tapped on the show case with a coin. The clicking
stopped, a skirt swished, and the gates of heaven opened, it seemed to
Hiram.

"Well, look who's here! Good morning."

"Ha-ha-ha! Good morning, ma'am."

"Then let's begin this good morning by dropping the 'ma'am.' They all
say it up in Mendocino, I know. It's considered the _ne plus ultra_ of
good breeding up there. You see I'm trying to steer you straight, and
I've got to be frank. I didn't have anybody kind enough to pick the
moss off me."

"I'll stop sayin' it, if you say so."

"Sure, you want to. Now, I've had another visit from Mr. Tweet. He
roasted me for not carrying out his orders. He's just the least bit
too fresh, and I intimated as much. But he told me just about how much
money you had, and I decided you'd better take his advice and go with
him."

"But I've decided not to go at all now," said Hiram. "I'm goin' to
begin lookin' for a job here in the city to-day."

"Aw, you can't get a job here that'll make you any money. Tweet told
me something about where you're going down there in southern
California. It's on the desert. A new railroad's building. Things
will be lively. A friend of mine was in here at the time. He's got a
lot of automobile trucks, and makes piles of money. Maybe you noticed
him. Good-looking fellow in a brown suit. Drives a big drab car?"

"Ye-yes, I've seen him," admitted Hiram resentfully.

"Well, he was in here and talked with Tweet, and he said he thought
he'd look into the freighting proposition down there. With his trucks,
you know. There's a long haul over the desert and the mountains, it
seems, and he says it ought to be good. Said maybe he'd take me down
some time, if anything turned up."

"You wouldn't go!"

"Wouldn't I? Huh! You bet your life I would! I only hope he'll stick
to what he says. Maybe I'd get to see you down there. Tweet said he'd
heard that the place they freight to is a live one. Ragtown, he said
they called it. That's t