The Ravalli Republican., 1898-02-09

told me- that she would furnish no
more meals for us and that it we
left that room for a minute she
would put paddock on the door.
And she meant it.
"Neycrthclcss, we Jared pretty
we'll tor several days, until the land
lady caught Madge, the younger
girl, bringing Il tray full OF food up
the back stairs one morning. That
game was stopped Then SUSIE ana
Harry rugged Up a private WIRE
from the window IN our room ana
leading down stairs. Under cover
of darkness Susie would steal out
side, fasten to the wire basketful
of cold chicken and bread and any
thing else she could sneak out of tho
lurdor. Harry would haul it up,
throw Il kiss to Susie, and dull care
would vanish for the time beng.
That had to end The landlady
packed the two girls off to another
aunt in st. Paul. ~"...=
Zone day while / was out hustllnS
Harry decided that it was necessary
that we should have a supply or
fresh linen. Filling the clothesbag
he dropped it out of the window,
locked the door behind him and
sauntered down stains, trusting that
he would escape the notice OF the
landlady. She was too quick for
him. That clothesbag and its con-
, tents never reached the Chinaman,
and in a iitfy there was paddock
; on our door Then we were out III
the cold. -.-
"Of course, as you can readily un-
derstand, where SO many others were
in the same boat we could manage
to bunk somewhere, but as to food
! that was another question. 1t was
:. easy enough to get drinks-too easy,
in fact. The crisis came one Sunday
= afternoon. For three days neither
:, Harry nor | tasted food We stood
:, at the junction Of the two principal
- streets and looked up and down and
=. at each other. | gavo my belt an
- - extra hitch and tried to brace Harry
~ ~ up by feeble joke. said:
=, ~ "'Let's 60 up to English Billy (
- - and ask him if he has got any shel
~ oysters from Chicago. They'ro only
, 81 dozen.
IN "'Oysters, moaned Harry, why
"a | could eat the shells
,t "rThat boy had a look in his fac
y, very much like that | saw in tn
,t ewes Of the poor devil who begge'
90 me for food tonight. l knew tina
ot something had to be done and tina
at once. English Billy, who kept
,s restaurant and wine vault, wa
q about the hardest customer III tow
inf when it came to asking credit II
,1o had been particularly ugly Of late
Still, we were starving, and | COL
~, cluded that some of English Billy
e.. food was just what we needed.
ho "'Harry, said, we may not g
,st another meal in q long time, br
,,t we'll have one good one OH Eng lis
nr Billy. You stick to me and don
,o show the white feather Come Oh
md My chum objected, and | fair]
ub pulled him along to English Billy
me I owed Billy about $3.50, and he Ia
.ed nearly split the bar in two Whe
he he announced that his slate W;
,ct broken and that he wouldn't giN
of his own brother a cracker to SAY
,ta him from starving So when v
md entered the restaurant Billy mu
md have hoped that money was in sigE
mt told Harry to let me do the orde
ing and for heavens sake to ST.
in shaking.
,dy "That poor fellow was on t
rs. verge of collapse. AS for me,
, at could have eaten the tablecloth, /
uch there wasn't any. We started
with cocktails, got outside Of sol
inc soup, and when | ordered a doul
NV, porterhouse steak with mushroor
! on hashed brown potatoes and cam
mt asparagus Harry face was sig
"'Oh, Billy will kill us when
f a gets that check, ne 1nufllllreu.
.rry We'll, suppose he does, | WI
me. pereu We won t die hungry; tha
0 be one satisfaction.
eat 'Then | ordered a couple of /
Tar ties Of ale. Billy brought the ale
utht himself. | tried to dawdle over
saw meal, but it was no use. Billy co
II as see that we were hungry He dlt
1uht waste any words on us, but til
his was danger in his eyes: l was
cked ing to gain time and had determl
liver to make clean breast to Billy
liver concluded to stand boldly and
)lies to him:
1T in "sWhen we had money, we 81
tn, l it with you, Billy, and as figur
les out we are entitled to this meal
when don't know that We'll ever pay ,
but we've got meal, and if
Is III want to fight, let's have it T.
t the here and now.
hem II think my chum aged five y
rry's during that meal, When | ord
nded the best cigars in the house and
inch glasses of brandy, he leaned
night and said: