Contents
| I | THE UP CALL FOR TORCHY | [1] |
| II | TORCHY MAKES THE SIR CLASS | [19] |
| III | TORCHY TAKES A CHANCE | [37] |
| IV | BREAKING IT TO THE BOSS | [56] |
| V | SHOWING GILKEY THE WAY | [75] |
| VI | WHEN SKEET HAD HIS DAY | [95] |
| VII | GETTING A JOLT FROM WESTY | [113] |
| VIII | SOME GUESSES ON RUBY | [129] |
| IX | TORCHY GETS AN INSIDE TIP | [148] |
| X | THEN ALONG CAME SUKEY | [170] |
| XI | TEAMWORK WITH AUNTY | [188] |
| XII | ZENOBIA DIGS UP A LATE ONE | [206] |
| XIII | SIFTING OUT UNCLE BILL | [223] |
| XIV | HOW AUNTY GOT THE NEWS | [243] |
| XV | MR. ROBERT AND A CERTAIN PARTY | [259] |
| XVI | TORCHY TACKLES A SHORT CIRCUIT | [275] |
| XVII | MR. ROBERT GETS A SLANT | [290] |
| XVIII | WHEN ELLA MAY CAME BY | [306] |
| XIX | SOME HOOP-LA FOR THE BOSS | [323] |
TORCHY, PRIVATE SEC.
CHAPTER I
THE UP CALL FOR TORCHY
Well, it's come! Uh-huh! And sudden, too, like I knew it would, if it came at all. No climbin' the ladder for me, not while they run express elevators. And, believe me, when the gate opened, I was right there with my foot out.
It was like this: One mornin' I'm in my old place behind the brass rail, at the jump-end of the buzzer. I'm everybody's slave in general, and Piddie's football in particular. You know—head office boy of the Corrugated Trust.
That's description enough, ain't it? And I'd been there so long—— Honest, when I first went on the job I used to sneak the city directory under the chair so my toes could touch. Now my knees rub the under-side of the desk. Familiar with the place? Say, there are just seventeen floor cracks between me and the opposite wall; it's fifty-eight steps through into Old Hickory's roll-top and back; and the ink I've poured into all them desk-wells would be enough to float a ferry-boat.