"But he niver paid thim others anny attention whativer, and pretty soon I begun wishin' he would. Sure, if he was thinkin' of worse than bein' rescued and havin' me handed over to the polayce, thin thim cold chills runnin' up and down me back wasn't doin' it for nothin'. 'Nonsinse,' I says to mesilf, summonin' back me manhood, 'I misdoubt if he knows what he is doin'. And annyways, he seems to be comin' along with me all right, bad cess to him, and it's me will be showin' him what it is to be dealin' with a strong man and a brainy wan. "'A few quistions, if ye please,' I says to him, commandin'. 'And be prompt with thim!' "'Yis,' says he, turnin' to me from lookin' out the windy and tryin' to look like he'd been intelligent whin he was a lad. "'Where does your father, Charles B. Schwartz, live at?' says I. "'Ye can address him at the Aldorf, but he lives in Pittsburg,' says he. "'We'll pass over that last, Courtney,' says I; 'I'm not askin' ye for the fam'ly skeletons. Ye say he likes ye?' "'Oh, yis,' he says, 'we're chums, the two of us. It's this way,' says he; 'the old man says that while I can't help him anny in his business, I'm interistin' to him, bein' different from ivry wan ilse he iver met.' "'God bless the old gintleman!' I says. "'Yis,' says he, 'he says it's excitin' to see what I'm going to spend his money on next.' "'Now they ain't anny use in pretendin' to be so rich,' I interrupts him, irritated, 'and you with but eliven dollars and twinty cints on the whole of ye!' "'I don't carry it all with me,' says he. "'No,' says I, 'ye don't carry all of annything with ye,' I says. "'Would ye believe me if I said I was poor?' says he. "'Divil a bit,' says I. "'But then what do ye----' "'Go on with your story,' I says to him severe, 'and don't be wastin' time on foolishness.' "'Well,' says he, 'me father's been a bit sore on me lately, sayin' I'm not livin' up to me repytation with him, but just spendin' money on stars and bars, like annywan ilse, and managin' to dodge the stripes. Do ye see the joke?' he says, stoppin'. "'No,' says I, 'but it wouldn't be anny the better for me seein' it. What's the ind of the fairy-tale?' I says. "'The joke's about flags,' says he. 'Well,' he says, 'me old man bet me I'd used up all the new ways of spendin' what he earned, and I took the bet. If I sind him in the bill for something I niver tried before, thin he doubles me allowance for six months. If I don't do it inside of wan week, thin he cuts me allowance in half,' he says. 'And I ain't allowed just to find something new in the shops and buy it.' "'I ain't niver heard a better,' says I. 'Who wrote it?' "'But don't ye see?' he says. 'That's why I want to be kidnapped--to win me bet! They's money in it for both of us, me good man.'