e's a
lot in the papers to-day."

So they were pacified and went on their way, and Loristan and Lazarus
and Marco and The Rat went on theirs also.

"Queer thing is," The Rat thought as they walked together, "I'm a bit
afraid to speak to him unless he speaks to me first. Never felt that
way before with any one."

He had jeered at policemen and had impudently chaffed "swells," but he
felt a sort of secret awe of this man, and actually liked the feeling.

"It's as if I was a private and he was commander-in-chief," he thought.
"That's it."

Loristan talked to him as they went. He was simple enough in his
statements of the situation. There was an old sofa in Marco's bedroom.
It was narrow and hard, as Marco's bed itself was, but The Rat could
sleep upon it. They would share what food they had. There were
newspapers and magazines to be read. There were papers and pencils to
draw new maps and plans of battles. There was even an old map of
Samavia of Marco's which the two boys could study together as an aid to
their game. The Rat's eyes began to have points of fire in them.

"If I could see the papers every morning, I could fight the battles on
paper by night," he said, quite panting at the incredible vision of
splendor. Were all the kingdoms of the earth going to be given to him?
Was he going to sleep without a drunken father near him?

Was he going to have a chance to wash himself and to sit at a table and
hear people say "Thank you," and "I beg pardon," as if they were using
the most ordinary fashion of speech? His own father, before he had
sunk into the depths, had lived and spoken in this way.

"When I have time, we will see who can draw up the best plans,"
Loristan said.

"Do you mean that you'll look at mine then--when you have time?" asked
The Rat, hesitatingly. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Yes," answered Loristan, "I'll look at them, and we'll talk them over."

As they went on, he told him that he and Marco could do many things
together. They could go to museums and galleries, and Marco could show
him what he himself was familiar with.

"My father said you wouldn't let him come back to Barracks when you
found out about it," The Rat said, hesitating again and growing hot
because he remembered so many ugly past days. "But--but I swear I won't
do him any harm, sir. I won't!"

"When I said I believed you could be trusted, I meant several things,"
Loristan answered him. "That was one of them. Yo