"Oh, go 'way, Seth. You've slipped your trolley."
"No, it's all straight goods, Dan. What kept me up there so long this mornin' was talkin' 'bout it. I'm to go to-night and get the clothes. The only thing that worries me is I can't pay for them myself."
"Anybody'd think to hear you talk that was hard luck. Look here, Seth, if what you've been givin' me is straight, you've struck a terrible snap, an' a feller who'd kick 'cause somebody gives him a suit of clothes, ought'er go bare-backed."
"It would look a good deal better, Dan, if I had the money to buy the things, rather than let them give 'em to me."
"I ain't so certain 'bout that. The biggest part of it is gettin' 'em, an' if they're willin' to put up I'd say let 'em buy anythin' they wanted. Look here, I can't quite get it through my head that things is the way you tell, 'cause it don't seem likely a boy could get in at headquarters."
Seth repeated to his partner all that 'Lish Davis had said, and when the story was concluded Master Roberts commented on it in this fashion:
"You'll be out er sight, Seth; that's all there is to it!" Then, realizing how his brother news-venders might be surprised, he added, "Come on quick, an' let's tell as many fellers as we can before we go to see Bill Dean ship Sam Barney to Philadelphy!"
Seth was by no means averse to making known his good fortune, and very shortly afterward the two were surrounded by a throng of incredulous news-venders and bootblacks, the majority of whom insisted that "they wouldn't be stuffed with any such yarns, 'cause of course a feller as small as Seth Bartlett couldn't get a job in the Department, even if it was only to sweep floors, wash windows, an' that sort of thing. Besides, if he was taken on at headquarters, nobody would give him a show of learnin' the drill."
Bill Dean called Dan aside, and after first persuading him to cross his throat with his fingers in order that he should be put on oath, as it were, asked regarding the truth of the statements made.
"It's jest as I said, an' he's goin' to have a reg'lar uniform, all but the buttons, to-night."