CHAPTER III
Mike Murphy
Holding the tiny flicker of flame in the hollow of the hat, Alvin saw in fancy gilt letters, pasted on the silk lining, the following:
"NOXON O"
"That's a queer name," he reflected. "I never heard anything like it."
"Do ye know ye're holding the same upside down?"
The Irish lad, panting from his exertion in running, stood grinning at Alvin's elbow. "'Spose ye turns the hat round so as to revarse the same."
Alvin did so and then read "O NOXON."
"It's the oddest name I ever saw, for 'NOXON' reads the same upside down and backwards—Ugh!"
Seized with a sudden loathing, he sent the hat skimming a dozen feet away. His feeling was as if he had grasped a serpent. Then he turned and impulsively offered his hand to the Irish lad.