'Well, then,' the first feller'd
say, 'well, sir, I ain't a-goin' to ask any favour of _you_.
How much _is_ your bill?' and the other feller'd say ten
dollars, or fifteen, or may be twenty-five, if they thought I had
that much, and the first feller'd say, 'Well, here's a gentleman
from up my way, and I guess he'll advance me that much on my cheque
if I make it worth his while. He knows me.' And the first thing you
know--he's been treatin' you, and so polite, showin' you round, and
ast you to go to the theayter--you advance the money, and you keep
on with the first feller, and pretty soon he asks you to hold up a
minute, he wants to go back and get a cigar; and he goes round the
corner, and you hold up, and _hold_ up, and in about a half an
hour, or may be less time, you begin to smell a rat, and you go for
a policeman, and the next morning you find your name in the papers,
'One more unfortunate!' You look out for 'em, young feller! Wish I
_had_ let that one go on till he done something so I could
handed him over to the cops. It's a shame they're allowed to go
'round, when the cops knows 'em. Hello! There _comes_ my mate,
_now_." The young man spoke as if they had been talking of his
mate and expecting him, and another young man, his counterpart in
dress, but of a sullen and heavy demeanour very unlike his own brisk
excitement, approached, flapping a bank-note in his hand.
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