"I meant I'd help," answered Neil unabashed.

"Help! Huh! Lot's of help, you'd be to any one! Well, let's see it." He
knelt and inspected the tricycle, grumbling all the while and shaking
his head angrily. "Who said it was broke?" he demanded presently. "Queer
kind of break; looks like you'd pried the link apart with a
cold-chisel."

"Well, I didn't; nor with a hot chisel. Besides, I've just told you it
didn't belong to me. Do I look like a cripple?"

"More like a fool," answered the other with a chuckle.

"You're a naughty old man," said Neil sorrowfully, "and if you were my
father I'd spank you." The other was too angry to find words, and
contented himself with bending back the damaged link and emitting a
series of choking sounds which Neil rightly judged to be expressions of
displeasure. When the repair was finished he pushed the machine angrily
toward the boy.

"Take it and get out," he said.

"Thanks. How much?"

"Fifty cents," was the reply, given with a toothless grin and a chuckle.
"Twenty-five cents for the job and twenty-five cents for working
after hours."

"Cheap enough," answered Neil, laying a quarter on the bench. "That's