"Take it," he said; "don't be a damn fool. And now so-long! I may
bring you home a job to-night, but if I don't you've got enough to live
on for a couple of weeks."

After the Lizard had gone Jimmy sat looking at the twenty dollars for a
long time.

"That fellow may be a thief," he soliloquized, "but whatever he is he's
white. Just imagine, the only friend I've got in Chicago is a
safe-blower."




CHAPTER IX.

HAROLD SITS IN A GAME.

When Elizabeth Compton broached to her father the subject of a
much-needed rest and a trip to the Orient, he laughed at her. "Why,
girl," he cried, "I was never better in my life! Where in the world did
you get this silly idea?"

"Harold noticed it first," she replied, "and called my attention to it;
and now I can see that you really have been failing."

"Failing!" ejaculated Compton, with a scoff. "Failing nothing! You're
a pair of young idiots. I'm good for twenty years more of hard work,
but, as I told Harold, I would like to quit and travel, and I shall do