humorous style. Smith was small
and weedy, of the sneak variety; he had a whining tone and a cringing
manner. He seemed to be always so afraid you were going to hit him that
he would make you want to hit him on that account alone.

Steelman "had" you in a fashion that would make your friends laugh.
Smith would "have" you in a way which made you feel mad at the bare
recollection of having been taken in by so contemptible a little sneak.

They battled round together in the North Island of Maoriland for a
couple of years.

One day Steelman said to Smith:

"Look here, Smithy, you don't know you're born yet. I'm going to take
you in hand and teach you."

And he did. If Smith wouldn't do as Steelman told him, or wasn't
successful in cadging, or mugged any game they had in hand, Steelman
would threaten to stoush him; and, if the warning proved ineffectual
after the second or third time, he would stoush him.

One day, on the track, they came to a place where an old Scottish couple
kept a general store and shanty. They camped alongside the road, and
Smith was just starting up to the house to beg supplies when Steelman
cried:

"Here!--hold on. Now where do you think you're going to?"

"Why, I'm going to try and chew the old party's lug, of course. We'll be
out of tucker in a couple of days," said Smith.

Steelman sat down on a stump in a hopeless, discouraged sort of way.

"It's no use," he said, regarding Smith with mingled reproach and
disgust. "It's no use. I might as well give it best. I can see that it's
only waste of time trying to learn you anything. Will I ever be able
to knock some gumption into your thick skull? After all the time and
trouble and pains I've took with your education, you hain't got any
more sense than to go and mug a business like that! When will you learn
sense? Hey? After all, I--Smith, you're a born mug!"

He always called Smith a "mug" when he was particularly wild at him, for
it hurt Smith more than anything else. "There's only two classes in the
world, spielers and mugs--and you're a mug, Smith."

"What have I done, anyway?" asked Smith helplessly. "That's all I want
to know."

Steelman wearily rested his brow on his hand.

"That will do, Smith," he said listlessly; "don't say another word, old
man; it'll only make my head worse; don't talk. You might, at the very
least, have a little consideration for my feelings--even if you haven't
for your own interests." He paused and regarded