"Come pretty nigh losin' somethin' overboard that time, didn't you?" he
observed.

Mr. Bangs pulled the brown derby as far down upon his head as it would
go.

"I--I'm afraid I made a mistake in buying this hat," he confided. "I
told the man I didn't think it fitted me as it should, but he said that
was because I wasn't used to it. I doubt if I ever become used to it.
And it really doesn't fit any better to-day than it did yesterday."

"New one, ain't it?" inquired Raish.

"Yes, quite new. My other blew out of the car window. I bought this one
at a small shop near the station in Boston. I'm afraid it wasn't a very
good shop, but I was in a great hurry."

"Where was you comin' from when your other one blew away?"

"From the mountains."

"White Mountains?"

"Yes."

Raish said that he wanted to know and waited for his passenger to say
something more. This the passenger did not do. Mr. Pulcifer whistled a
bar or two of his "Follies" song and then asked another question.