tellin' this young feller about that beat, you know.” “Oh, he's all right,” said the mate. “Just seen him down on Tremont Street, between two cops. Must ha' caught him in the act.” “You don't say so! Well, that's good, anyway. Why! didn't you' get it changed?” demanded the young man with painful surprise as his mate handed him the bank-note. “No, I didn't. I been to more'n twenty places, and there ain't no small bills nowhere. The last place, I offered 'em twenty-five cents if they'd change it.” “Why didn't you offer 'em fifty? I'd 'a' give fifty, and glad to do it. Why, I've _got_ to have this bill changed.” “Well, I'm sorry for you,” said the mate, with ironical sympathy, “because I don't see how you're goin' to git it done. Won't you move up a little bit, young feller?” He sat down on the other side of Barker. “I'm about tired out.” He took his head between his hands in sign of extreme fatigue, and drooped forward, with his eyes fixed on the ground. Lemuel's heart beat. Fifty cents would pay for his lodging, and he could stay till the next day and prolong the chance of something turning up without too sinful a waste of money. “How much is the bill?” he asked. “Ten dollars,” said the young man despondently. “And will you give me fifty cents if I change it?” “Well, I said I'd give fifty cents,” replied the young man gloomily, “and I will.” “It's a bargain,” said Lemuel promptly, and he took from his pocket the two five-dollar notes that formed his store, and gave them, to the young man. He looked at them critically. “How do I know they're good?” he asked. “You're a stranger to me, young feller, and how do I know you ain't tryin' to beat me?” He looked sternly at Lemuel, but here the mate interposed. “How does _he_ know that you ain't tryin' to beat _him_?” he asked contemptuously. “I never saw such a feller as you are! Here you make me run half over town to change that bill, and now when a gentleman offers to break it for you, you have to go and accuse him of tryin' to put off counterfeit money on you. If I was him I'd see you furder.” “Oh, well, I don't want any words about it. Here, take your money,” said the young man. “As long as I said I'd do it, I'll do it. Here's your half a dollar.” He put it, with the bank-note, into Lemuel's hand, and rose briskly. “You stay here, Jimmy, till I come back. I won't be gone a minute.” He walked down the mall, and went out of the gate on Tremont Street. Then the mate came to himself. “Why, I've _let_ him go off with both them bills now, and he owes me one of 'em.” With that he rose from Lemuel's side and hurried after his vanishing comrade; before he was out of sight he had broken into a run.