“An’ if ye are sakin’ work, you’re no thramp, for little’s the hand’s turn of that they ever do; an’ I know you’re no thafe, from your accint, which is like me own, barrin’ the Dublin twang, so I’ll even be better to ye than the Dutchman—who, by the way, is not as bad as he seems. You jist came upon him in an unlucky time, an’ the drink at the fore too! Only yesterday it was that a brace of strollers stole away his only cow—begging the pardon of the whiskey-barrel, an’ its contints is not exactly suitable for swatening the coffee, sure,—and they druv her off to the next neighbor’s beyant, where they sold the baste, fur all the worruld as if they owned her—the blackguards! As natural as iver can be, Mr. Staub—that’s the tavern-keeper’s name, an’ mine’s Timmins, be the same token—has no love left to squander on tramps; an’ takin’ you fur one—an’ where could have been his two eyes, an’ his ears, meanwhiles?—he gives you the back of his hand nately, and the hardest words he can lay his crooked tongue to! He thought you a thramp, and he mistrated you as one! Still, Staub’s a clever man when the drink’s not in him, an’ many’s the poor fellow I’ve seen him take in out of the cowld, and give a sup an’ a bed, who hadn’t the shadow o’ sixpence to bless himself wid!” “Sure, an’ I’m no tramp!” answered McKenna, “an’ what I wants in the way of atin’ an’ drinkin’, for the present, at laste, I’m able to pay fur! I’ve two strong arms, an’ an honest heart, God be thanked! an’ when my cash is all spent, I can dig, or do something honorable for more, without help from such rubbish as big Misther Staub!” Timmins, the soft-hearted, responded: “I’ll e’en do better by you, me laddy-buck, than the scullions you have left! Come home wid me fur the night, an’ stay longer if ye likes; you are as welcome as the birds in spring—an’ tho’ its comin’ late we are, my old woman will give you somewhat for your stomach, an’ a bed to rest your tired bones upon, at all events!” As an argument in favor of his acceptance of the offer, just at that moment the rain poured down heavier than before, and the wind beat the large drops into the faces of the men with a force which was uncomfortable. “I’ll go wid you, Mr. Timmins—an’ many thanks for your kind offer!” And, taking one valise in his left hand, keeping the right free for whatever might occur, the operative committed the remainder of his portable property to Timmins’ care. Permitting that personage to lead the way, they started.