people who have a fever to give them water, mother?"

"No, dear; I do not think it does. My experience teaches me to give
feverish patients all the cooling drinks they want."

Then Derrick told her what he had seen and learned of Bill Tooley's
condition that afternoon. He so excited her pity by his description of
the dirt, noise, and neglect from which the sick lad was suffering that
she finally exclaimed, "Poor fellow! I wish we had room to take care of
him here!"

"Do you, mother, really? I wanted to ask you, but was almost afraid to,
if he couldn't come here and have my room till he gets well. You see
he's always treated Polly worse than he has me, and yet Polly risked his
life for him. It isn't anywhere near so much to do as that, of course;
but I'd like to give up my room to him, and nurse him when I was home,
if you could look after him a little when I wasn't. I can sleep on the
floor close to the bed, and be ready to wait on him nights. You know I
always liked the floor better than a bed, anyway, and I believe he'll
die if he stays where he is."

They knew each other so well, this mother and son, that a question of
this kind was easily settled between them. Though both fully realized
what a task they were undertaking, it was decided that if his parents
would consent Bill Tooley should be brought to their house to be nursed.

When Monk Tooley came up from the mine that evening and examined the
check-board to see how the numbers to his credit compared with the tally
he had kept, he became very angry, and accused the check boss of
cheating him. The latter said he knew nothing about it. There were the
checks to speak for themselves. He had hung each one on the peg as it
came up.

"Den dey've been stolen!" exclaimed the angry man, "an' if I catch him
as done it, I'll make him smart for it, dat's all."

The check boss tried to show him how perfectly useless it would be for
anybody to steal another's checks. "You know yourself it wouldn't do him
any good, Tooley," he said. "He couldn't claim anything on 'em, or make
any kind of a raise on 'em; besides I've been right here every minute of
the day, barrin' a couple when I ran inside the breaker on an errand.
Then I left Job Taskar, as honest a man as there is in the colliery, to
keep watch, and he said nothing passed while I was gone."

"Well," answered Monk Tooley, "I'm cheated outer three loads, and you
know what dat is ter a man what's worked overtime ter make