“Wait a second,” said Jimmy. “What would you have gotten on this watch of mine?”
“It would have stood me about twenty bucks.”
Jimmy reached into his pocket and drew forth a roll of bills. “Here,” he said, handing the other two tens.
“Naw,” said the Lizard, shoving the proffered money away. “I’m no cheap skate.”
“Come on—take it,” said Jimmy. “I may want a box cracked some day.”
“All right,” said the Lizard, “if you put it that way, bo.”
“I should think,” said Jimmy, “that a man of your ability could earn a living by less precarious methods.”
“You would think so,” replied the Lizard. “I’ve tried two or three times to go straight. Wore out my shoes looking for a job. Never landed anything that paid me more than ten bucks per, and worked nine or ten hours a day, and half the time I couldn’t get that.”
“I suppose the police hounded you all the time, too,” suggested Jimmy.
“Naw,” said the Lizard; “dat’s all bunk. De fellows that couldn’t even float down a sewer straight pull dat. Once in a while dey get it in for some guy, but dey’re glad enough to leave us alone if we leave dem alone. I worked four hours to-day, maybe six before I get through, and I’ll stand a chance of makin’ all the way from fifty dollars to five thousand. Suppose I was drivin’ a milk-wagon, gettin’ up at t’ree o’clock in the mornin’ and workin’ like hell—how much would I get out of dat? Expectin’ every minute some one was goin’ tuh fire me. Nuthin’ doin’—dey can’t nobody fire me now. I’m my own boss.”