Wanted--A Match Maker | Page 5

the head, and administered a second
swallow of the brandy. She did not resume her seat, but kept her arm
about the boy, in an attempt to render his position easier. It was a
wizened, pinched little face she gazed down at, and now the mouth was
drawn as if there was physical suffering, even in the unconsciousness.
Neither head nor hands had apparently ever known soap, but the dirt
only gave picturesqueness, and, indeed, to Miss Durant an added
pathos; and the tears came into her eyes as she noted that under the
ragged coat was only a flimsy cotton shirt, so bereft of buttons that the
whole chest was exposed to the cold which but a little while before the
girl, clad in furs and sheltered by the carriage, had yet found so nipping.
She raised her free hand and laid it gently on the exposed breast, and
slightly shivered as she felt how little warmth there was.
"Please put the fur rug over him," she requested; and her companion
pulled it from under their feet, and laid it over the coiled-up legs and
body.
The weight, or the second dose of the stimulant, had an effect, for Miss
Durant felt the body quiver, and then the eyes unclosed. At first they
apparently saw nothing, but slowly the dulness left them, and they, and
seemingly the whole face, sharpened into comprehension, and then, as
they fastened on the blue coat of the policeman, into the keenest
apprehension.
"Say," he moaned, "I didn't do nuttin', dis time, honest."

"I ain't takin' you to the station-house," denied the officer, colouring
and looking sideways at his companion.
"You were run over, and we are carrying you to where a doctor can see
how much you are hurt," said the gently.
The eyes of the boy turned to hers, and the face lost some of its fright
and suspicion. "Is dat on de level?" he asked, after a moment's scrutiny.
"Youse oin't runnin' me in?"
"No," answered Miss Durant. "We are taking you to the hospital."
"De horspital!" exclaimed the little chap, his eyes brightening. "Is Ise in
de rattler?"
"The what?" asked Constance.
"De rattler," repeated the questioner, "de ding-dong."
"No, you ain't in no ambulance," spoke up the officer. "You're in this
young lady's carriage."
The look of hope and pride faded out of the boy's face. "Ise oin't playin'
in no sorter luck dese days," he sighed. Suddenly the expression of
alarm reappeared in his face. "Wheer's me papes?"
"They're all right. Don't you work yourself up over them," said the
roundsman, heartily.
"Youse didn't let de udder newsies swipe dem, did youse?" the lad
appealed anxiously.
"I'll pay you for every one you lost," offered Constance. "How many
did you have?"
The ragamuffin stared at her for a moment, his face an essence of
disbelief.
"Ah, hell!" he ejaculated. "Wot's dis song an' dance youse givin' us?"

"Really, I will," insisted the girl. She reached back of her and took her
purse from the rack, and as well as she could with her one hand opened
it.
The sight of the bills and coin brought doubt to the sceptic. "Say," he
demanded, his eyes burning with avidity, "does youse mean dat? Dere
oin't no crawl in dis?"
"No. How much were they worth?"
The boy hesitated, and scanned her face, as if he were measuring the
girl more than he was his loss. "Dere wuz twinty _Joinals_" he said,
speaking slowly, and his eyes watching her as a cat might a mouse,
"an'--an'--twinty _Woilds_--an'--an' tirty _Telegrams_--an'--an'--" He
drew a fresh breath, as if needing strength, shot an apprehensive glance
at the roundsman, and went on hurriedly, in a lower voice, "an'
tirty-five _Posts_--"
"Ah, g'long with you," broke in the policeman, disgustedly. "He didn't
have mor'n twenty in all, that I know."
"Hope I may die if Ise didn't have all dem papes, boss," protested the
boy.
"You deserve to be run in, that's what you do," asserted the officer of
the law, angrily.
"Oh, don't threaten him," begged Miss Durant.
"Don't you be fooled by him, mum. He ain't the kind as sells Posts, an'
if he was, he wouldn't have more'n five."
"It's de gospel trute Ise chuckin' at youse dis time," asserted the
youngster.
"Gospel Ananias--!" began the officer.
"Never mind," interrupted Miss Durant. "Would ten dollars pay for
them all?"

"Ah, I know'd youse wuz tryin' to stuff me," dejectedly exclaimed the
boy; then, in an evident attempt to save his respect for his own
acuteness, he added: "But youse didn't. I seed de goime youse wuz
settin' up right from de start."
Out of the purse Constance, with some difficulty, drew a crisp
ten-dollar bill, the boy watching the one-handed operation half
doubtingly and half eagerly;