"Aw--quit it; are ye crazy?" grunted his companion. "Bud's got us cinched." "Got us--hell!" snarled the youth. "Bud's askin' for it, an' some day he's goin' t' get it--good!" Toward afternoon, Ravenslee was trundling light-heartedly eastward, his barrow emptied to the last peanut. Having reached Fifth Avenue, he paused to mop his perspiring brow when a long, low automobile, powerfully engined, that was creeping along behind, pulled up with a sudden jerk, and its driver, whose immense shoulders were clad in a very smart livery, pushed up the peak of his smart cap to run his fingers through his close-cropped hair, while his mild blue eyes grew very wide and round. "Crikey!" said he at last. "Is that you, sir, or ain't it?" "How much?" demanded Ravenslee gruffly. "Crumbs!" said the chauffeur. "Sir, if you--ain't you, all I say is--I ain't me!" "Aw--what's bitin' ye, bo?" growled Ravenslee. "Well, if this ain't the rummest go, I'm a perisher!" "Say, now, crank up d' machine an' beat it while d' goin' 's good. How's that, Joe?" "Lord, Mr. Ravenslee--so you are my guv'nor, and blow me tight--shoving a barrer! I knowed it was you, sir; leastways I knowed your legs an' the set o' them shoulders, but--with a barrer! Excuse me, sir, but the idea o' you pushing a perishing peanut barrer so gay an' 'appy-'earted--well, all I can say is love-a-duck!" "Well now, cut along, Joe, and get ready. I mean to put in some real hard work with you this afternoon." "Right-o, sir!" nodded Joe eagerly. "Lord, but we've missed you terrible--the Old Un an' me." "Glad of it, Joe! Tell Patterson to have my bath ready when we've finished. Off with you--drive in the Fifth Avenue entrance." Joe nodded, and the big car turned and crept silently away, while Ravenslee, trundling onward, turned off to the left and so into a very large, exceedingly neat garage where stood five or six automobiles of various patterns in one of which, a luxurious limousine, an old, old man snored blissfully. At the rumble of the barrow, however, this ancient being choked upon a snore, coughed, swore plaintively, and finally sat up. Perceiving Ravenslee, he blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stepping from the car very nimbly despite his years, faced the intruder with a ferocious scowl. He was indeed a very ancient man, though very nattily dressed from spotless collar to shiny patent leather shoes, a small, dandified, bright-eyed man whose broken nose and battered features bore eloquent testimony to long and hard usage. "'Ook it!" he croaked, with square bony jaw fiercely outthrust. "We don't want no peanuts 'ere, d'j 'ear? 'Op off, 'ook it before I break every blessed bone in yer bloomin' body!" "What, Old Un, don't you know me, either?" "Lumme!" exclaimed the little old man, blinking beneath hoary brows. "Ho, lor' lumme, it's 'im! Blimy, it's the Guv'nor--'ow do, Guv!" and shooting immaculate cuffs over bony wrists he extended a clawlike hand. "How are you, Old Un?"