Tom Slade | Page 2

an average of a dozen times a day) he would reach cautiously down behind his legs, as if he expected to find a stone on the kitchen floor conveniently near at hand.
First and last, Tom had heard a good deal of unfavorable comment about his fancy for throwing stones. Mrs. Bennett, the settlement worker, had informed him that throwing stones was despicable, which went in one ear and out the other, because Tom did not know what "despicable" meant. The priest had told him that it was both wicked and cowardly; while the police had gone straight to the heart of the matter by threatening to lock him up for it.
And yet, you know, it was not until Tom met young Mr. Ellsworth, scoutmaster, that he heard something on the subject which stuck in his mind. On this day of Tom's wild exploits, as he moved along a little further down the street he came to the fence which enclosed John Temple's vacant lot. It was covered with gaudy posters and with his remaining piece of coal he proceeded to embellish these.
He was so absorbed in his decorative enterprise that he did not notice the person who was standing quietly on the sidewalk watching him, until he was aware of a voice speaking very sociably.
"I don't think I should do that, my boy, if I were you."
Tom paused (in the middle of a most unwholesome sentence) and saw a young gentleman, perhaps twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, looking pleasantly at him. He was extremely well-dressed in a natty blue serge suit, and to Tom his appearance was little less than gorgeous.
The boy's first impulse was, of course, to run, and he made a start as if to do so. Then, fearing perhaps that there was not a clear get-away, he stooped for a stone.
"What are you going to do with that?" asked the young gentleman, smiling.
"Nartin."
"You weren't going to throw it at me, I hope, while I am standing three feet from you."
Tom was a little nonplussed. "I wouldn't t'row no stone standin' near yer," he grumbled.
"Good," said the young man; "you have some ideas about sporting, haven't you? Though, of course, you're no sport--or you wouldn't have picked up a stone at all."
Now this was great news to Tom. He knew he was no gentleman; Mrs. Bennett had told him that. He knew he was a hoodlum; the trolley conductors had told him that. He knew that he was lazy and shiftless and unkempt and a number of other things, for the world at large had made no bones of telling him so; but never, never for one moment had he supposed that he was no sport. He had always believed that to hit a person with a stone and "get away with it" represented the very top-notch of fun, and sporting proficiency.
So he looked at this young man as if he thought that he had inadvertently turned the world upside down.
"Give me that piece of coal, my boy, and let's see if we can't mark out that last word."
"Yer'll git yer hand all dirty wid coal," said Tom, hardly knowing what else to say.
"Well, a dirty hand isn't as bad as a filthy word; besides, I'm rooting in the dirt with my hands all summer, anyway," said the young man, as he marked out Tom's handiwork. "There," he added, handing back the coal, "that's not so bad now; guess neither one of us is much of an artist, hey? See that scratch?" he went on, exhibiting his hand to Tom. "I got that shinning up a tree. Come on, let's beat it; first thing you know a cop will be here."
Tom hardly knew what to think of this strange, sumptuously-attired creature whose hands were rooting in the dirt all summer, and who got a scratch (which he proudly exhibited) from shinning up a tree; who said "beat it" when he meant "go away," and who called a policeman a "cop."
Tom rather liked the way this strange man talked, though it was not without a tinge of suspicion that he accompanied him along the street, casting furtive glances at his luxurious attire, wondering how such as he could climb a tree.
"You couldn't shin up no tree," he presently ventured.
"Oh, couldn't I, though?" laughed his companion. "I've shinned up more trees than you've got fingers and toes."
"When you was a kid?"
"I'm a kid now, and don't you forget it. And I'll give you a tip, too. Grind up some bark in your hands--it works fine."
They walked on silently for a little way; an ill-assorted pair they must have seemed to a passer-by, the boy hitching up his suspender as often as it slid from his shoulder in his shuffling effort to keep up with the alert stride of his companion.
"Trouble