"God A'mighty!" burst forth the giant, "I ain't got a cent on earth to
get her nothin'," and he turned toward the two men fiercely, his great
brows meeting over his sullen eyes, "yes, I'll come, you can count on
me," and he went in the door.
"Liberty Square by the statue, four o'clock," called the dirty gentleman
after him, while the pleasant gentleman put the Angel hastily down.
"Adieu, mon enfant," he cried, showing his teeth as he smiled back over
his shoulder, and followed his companion down the stairs.
In time Joey and his weeping charge also reached the bottom. Not a word
of the conversation had escaped the sharp ears of the Major. "It's past
two, now," he soliloquized, "an' he said Liberty Square, four o'clock. I
know where the statoo is. Yer follows the cars from front of th' arm'ry
an' they goes right there, 'cause that's where the Cap'n's office is.
Don'tcher cry no more, Angel," with insinuating coaxing in his tones,
"I'll take yer there if yer wanter go."
The Angel slipped her hand in his obediently, and the two forthwith
proceeded to leave the neighborhood of the Tenement behind them,
undeterred by the friendly overtures of Petey O'Malligan and his
colleagues to join in with their pastimes.
"We ain't got no time fer foolin'," confided Joey, hurrying her along,
"there'll be flags an' hollerin', an' we wanter get there in time."
On reaching the car line the small Major was obliged to slacken his
speed, for, while, in a measure, the Angel had caught the spirit of his
enthusiasm, yet her legs refused to keep pace with his haste.
"Ef yer was still ter heaven, Angel," the Major pondered, as they stood
on the street corner getting breath, "yerz wouldn't need ter use yer
legs at all, would yer? Yer'd jus' take out an' fly across this yere
street, waggins an' trucks an' all, wouldn't yer?"
The Angel cast her eyes upon him doubtfully.
"That's what my mammy tol' me about Angels," Joey declared stoutly.
"Angel didn't a never fly," nevertheless the baby stated with
conviction.
Joey looked disappointed, and even unconvinced. Then his face
brightened. "That's 'cause you was too little, like that canary at th'
Res't'rant what ain't got its feathers yet. You was too little fer yer
wings to have growed afore you come away," and his lively imagination
having thus settled the problem, the two continued their way.
"Yer see how it is," he observed presently, evidently having been
revolving the subject in his busy brain, "ef Mis' Tomlin had th' doctor
an' some ice, she'd get well, she would, an' Mr. Tomlin, he's goin' to
this yere meetin' to see about work, so's he can get 'em fer her. But
'tain't no use fer workin' men to beg for work these yere days," he
added with a comical air of wisdom. "I heerd Old G. A. R. say, I did, to
a man what comes ter talk politics wid him, that beggin' th' rich people
to help yer was jus' like buttin' yer head agin a brick wall, so what
good's it goin' ter do if he does go?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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