drool about being coaxed into the Street and being trimmed for my
coin--nix! The only thing to do is to go out and get it back, and
get it quick, eh, Bunch?"

"You bet, John," Bunch agreed. "I spent last evening with Alice
and I felt like phony money all the time. She's going right ahead
with the wedding preparations and I simply hadn't the nerve to tell
her that I lost nearly every penny I had. Uncle William Grey
tiptoed into the parlor for a few moments and began to congratulate
me on the good reports he had had from Alice with regard to my
ability to save a bit of money. I could feel myself shrivelling up
as he talked and the parlor began to turn around and start for the
Bennings track."

"I know the feeling," I said earnestly. "There was a time, Bunch,
that whenever my wife mentioned the word money to me I could see a
horse come into the room and shake his mane at me."

"And then," Bunch continued, "Uncle William said to me, 'Jefferson,
my boy, Alice tells me you've already saved up five thousand, and
I'm proud of you. I didn't like you at first, because I thought
you were a harum scarum like your friend, John Henry; but now that
you've developed such manly traits of character I'm going to take
four thousand of your money, put the same amount in for Alice, and
start you in business.' Say, John, I wanted to go through the
parlor floor and on through the earth and then out through the
busiest fort at Port Arthur, and let a Jap shell knock my silly
head off."

"We're both up against it for fair," I said; "and we'll have to get