The Cruise of the Make-Believes

THE CRUISE OF THE MAKE-BELIEVES

'TO ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES I AM A RICH MAN.'
BY TOM GALLON AUTHOR OF TATTERLEY, MEG THE LADY, ETC. Illustrated by CH. GRUNWALD BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1907
Copyright, 1907 , By Little, Brown, and Company. ——— All rights reserved Published October, 1907 COLONIAL PRESS Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. Boston, U.S.A.

THE CRUISE OF THE MAKE-BELIEVES
THE thin young man with the glossy hat got out of the cab at the end of the street, and looked somewhat distrustfully down that street; glanced with equal distrust at the cabman. A man lounging against the corner public-house, as though to keep that British institution from falling, and leaving him without refreshment, got away from it, and inserted himself between the driver and the fare, ready to give information or advice to both, on the strength of being a local resident.
Are you quite sure that this is Arcadia Street? asked the young man in the glossy hat. He had a thin, meagre, precise sort of voice—delicate and mincing.
Carn't yer see it wrote up? demanded the driver, pointing with his whip to the blank wall that formed one side of the street. Wotjer think I should want to drop yer in the wrong place for? He was a cross driver, for he had already been driving about in the wilds of Islington in search of Arcadia Street for a long time, and he was doubtful whether or not that fact would be remembered in the fare.
Yus—this is Arcadia Street, guv'nor, said the man from the public-house. You take it from me; I've bin 'ere, man an' boy, since before I could remember. Wot part of it was you wantin', sir?
But the young man had already given the cabman a substantial fare, and had turned away. The man from the public-house jogged along a little behind him, eager to be of service for a consideration to a man to whom a shilling or two seemed to mean nothing at all; a few bedraggled staring children had sprung up, as if by magic, and were also lending assistance, by the simple expedient of walking backwards in front of the stranger, and stumbling over each other, and allowing him to stumble over them. And still the young man said nothing, but only glanced anxiously at the houses.