"Take that, then; it's the last one I have." "He's a good-natured boy, after all," thought the young clerk. "Some boys would have been offended with me for having refused to lend." He did not understand the cause of Sam's good spirits, but thought him unusually light hearted. When the office closed, and Sam was released from duty, he took his way at once to a small pawn office with which he had become familiar in the course of his varied career, though he had not often possessed anything of sufficient value to pawn. The pawnbroker, a small old man, a German by birth, scanned Sam attentively, regarding him as a possible customer. "How do you do, my boy?" he said, politely. "Oh, I'm tiptop. Have you got any money to give away?" "What shall I give it for?" asked the old man. "I've got a ring here," said Sam, "that I want to pawn." "Show it to me." The pawnbroker started in surprise and admiration when his eye fell on the sparkling brilliant. "Where did you get it?" he asked. "It was left by my grandmother," said Sam, promptly. The pawnbroker shrugged his shoulders, not believing a word of the story. "Isn't it a nice ring?" asked Sam. "So so," answered the old man. "I have seen much better. How much do you want for it?" "How much will you give me?" "Two dollars," answered the old man. "Then you won't get it," said Sam. "You won't get it for a cent under five." "That is too much," said the old man, from force of habit. "I'll give you four." "No, you won't. You'll give me five; and I won't sell it for that, neither. I may want to get it back, as it was my aunt's." "You said your grandmother left it to you," said the old man, shrewdly. "So she did," answered Sam, unabashed; "but she left it to my aunt first. When my aunt died it came to me." Without dwelling upon the efforts which the pawnbroker made to get the ring cheaper, it is sufficient to say that Sam carried his point, and marched out of the store with five dollars and a pawn ticket in his pocket. CHAPTER VII. TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS REWARD. Henry Martin was rather surprised at not receiving from Sam another application for a loan that evening. He had watched Sam's rate of expenditure, and decided that he must be at the bottom of his purse. He was surprised, therefore, to find that his roommate ordered an unusually expensive supper, and paid for the same out of a two-dollar bill. "I didn't think you were so rich, Sam," he remarked. "I can manage better than you think I can," said Sam, with an important air. "I am glad to hear it. I want you to get along." "I guess I'll get along. Here's the fifty cents I was to pay you this week." "You were not to pay it till Saturday." "Never mind. I'll pay it now." Henry Martin was surprised, but his surprise was of an agreeable character. He was convinced that Sam must have obtained money from some other quarter, but decided not to inquire about it. He would wait till Sam chose to tell him.