"Live somewhere, and not go tramping round the country all the time. It would be a good deal pleasanter."
"Not for me. I'm a vagrant by nature. I can't be cooped up in one place. I should die of stagnation. I come of a roving stock. My mother and father before me were rovers, and I follow in their steps."
The man spoke with animation, his eye flashing as he gazed about him, and unconsciously quickened his pace.
"Then, I'm not like you," said Tony, decidedly. "I don't want to be a tramp. Were my father and mother rovers like yours?"
"Of course they were," answered Rudolph, but not without hesitation. "Ain't I your uncle?"
"I don't know. Are you?" returned Tony, searchingly.
"Haven't I told you so a hundred times?" demanded Rudolph, impatiently.
"Yes," said the boy, slowly, "but there's no likeness between us. You're dark and I am light."
"That proves nothing," said the elder tramp, hastily. "Brothers are often as unlike. Perhaps you don't want to look upon me as a relation?"