Cinder Path Tales

102 CINDER-PATH TALES karfee cup it was, an' not half full at that. 'Twas not enough to kape the night out,lit alone dazeme hid. Perhaps 'tis drunk you think Iam; well, that I'm not I'll prove to yes." With this Paddy rose to his feet, and planting one foot on a crack of the floor, he walked across the hall to the opposite side, as gravely as possible, putting one foot straight in front of the other. He had come to his senses enough to realize that if I thought him the worse for liquor, itwould hurt his chances for "that job," and he walked as carefully as if he had been Blondin on a tight rope, and Niagara Falls waswait­ ing to engulf him if he made a false step. Paddy's temporary forgetfulness of his am­ bition was the best indication of his intense fear, for not once before had he let it out of his mind since he started on his " quest." As he walked away, I slipped to the door, saying soothingly asI unlocked and opened it, "Well, Paddy, you're sober enough; it must be the boys,and we'll go out and catch them attheir tricks." "Sure wewill that," he said rather doubt­ fully; "but 'tis no spook at all, for they makes no noise whin they walks?" I assured him I would stake my profes­ sional reputation on it, and taking his arm