"'Och,' says I, 'tell me but this wan thing,' I says, disgusted, layin' me finger right on wan of the manny weak places in what he'd been handin' me, '_why_ did ye want to make it ten thousand instid of five, whin five would 'a' won your bet just as easy-like? Answer me _that_!' I says. "'Well,' says he, fidgittin' in his seat, 'well, you see--oh, I was just wantin' to rub it in on the old man,' he says, stammerin'. "'I'm glad I met ye,' I says; 'ye're the most bedivel'd and all-amazin' liar I iver seen. If ye iver meet Mr. Roosevelt, he'll choke to death tryin' to describe ye.' "'Yis,' he says, 'I guess ye caught me. It does sound a bit queer whin I come to think about it. But I'll tell ye what I'll do,' says he, brightenin' up sudden-like, 'I'll take it all back!' "So help me, it was too much for anny man! Whativer he was, I give him up. And him settin' there lookin' at me like he was twelve years old! Me brains was in a prespiration from tryin' to put a label on him, but no sooner was they findin' a explanation of him than he goes to work and proves thim wrong entirely. They might as well been a omelette in me head. It was queer doin's, but what it was behind thim no wan could be tellin'. 'This is me last kidnappin',' says I to mesilf. 'I want something easy on me nerves like burglin', and I wish I was safe on the East Side with me little human conundrum, bad scran to him, and what is he smilin' to himsilf about now?' thinks I. "'Do ye want to know what I'm smilin' about?' says he right thin. "'Yis, sor,' says I, feeble, 'if ye don't mind sayin''--me heart nearly pantin' itsilf to death. 'Holy saints!' thinks I, 'is the little divil wan of thim mind-readers, or is he the divil himsilf?' "'Well,' says he, pleasant, the car startin' on thim bed-spring curves down to the ferry, 'I've been thinkin' that whin you and me has got through with each other,' he says, lookin' at me with thim fish-eyes in a way that raised the goose-flesh on me, 'I'll be tryin' this kidnappin' business mesilf. You like it pretty well, don't ye?' "'They ain't nothin' like it,' I says, thankin' God it was the truth. And just thin the car stopped in front of the ferry. "'See here, me man,' says he, as we was gittin' off, 'if me frinds can't be raisin' the eight thousand, we can be makin' it five ag'in, and if they can't be findin' that much, would ye be willin' to let me loose long enough to kidnap some wan ilse and pay ye?' "'Oh,' thinks I, 'so _that's_ what ye've been drivin' at! But thin,' says me second thoughts, 'why has he been tellin' me--' We was walkin' in the door of the ferry, and I grabs hold of his arm, fair burstin' with rage, bein' nervous from what I'd been through: 'Ye scut,' I says, 'didn't ye say your father was rollin' in money?' "'Yis,' says he, calm and pleasant, 'but I took all that back. I ain't got anny father now. Ye'll have to be payin' for the ferry-tickets,' he says.