“‘Kelly,’ says Jonadab.  ’Yes, here ’tis.  Now, “James Kelly.”  Land of Love!  Barzilla, look here.’

“I looked, and there wa’n’t no less than a dozen pages of James Kellys beginning with fifty James A.’s and endin’ with four James Z.’s.  The Y in ‘New York’ ought to be a C, judgin’ by that directory.

“‘Godfrey mighty!’ I says.  ’This ain’t no forenoon’s job, Jonadab.  If you’re goin’ through that list you’ll have to spend the rest of your life here.  Only, unless you want to be lonesome, you’ll have to change your name to Kelly.’

“‘If I’d only got his middle letter,’ says he, mournful, ’’twould have been easier.  He had four middle names, if I remember right—­the old man was great on names—­and ’twas too much trouble to write ’em all down.  Well, I’ve done my duty, anyhow.  We’ll go and call on Ase Baker.’

“But ’twas after eleven o’clock then, and the doughnuts and cheese I had for breakfast was beginnin’ to feel as if they wanted company.  So we decided to go back to the Golconda and have some dinner first.

“We had ham and eggs for dinner, some that was left over from the last time Jonadab stopped there, I cal’late.  Lucky there was hot bread and coffee on the bill or we’d never got a square meal.  Then we went up to our room and the Cap’n laid down on the bed.  He was beat out, he said, and wanted to rest up a spell afore haulin’ anchor for another cruise.”

CHAPTER XII

A VISION SENT

“Where’s the arrestin’ come in?” demanded Stitt.

“Comes quick now, Bailey.  Plenty quick enough for me and Jonadab, I tell you that!  After we got to our room the Cap’n went to sleep pretty soon and I set in the one chair, readin’ the newspaper and wishin’ I hadn’t ate so many of the warm bricks that the Golconda folks hoped was biscuit.  They made me feel like a schooner goin’ home in ballast.  I guess I was drowsin’ off myself, but there comes a most unearthly yell from the bed and I jumped ha’f out of the chair.  There was Jonadab settin’ up and lookin’ wild.

“‘What in the world?’ says I.

“‘Oh!  Ugh!  My soul!’ says he.

“‘Your soul, hey?’ says I.  ’Is that all?  I thought mebbe you’d lost a quarter.’

“‘Barzilla,’ he says, comin’ to and starin’ at me solemn, ’Barzilla, I’ve had a dream—­a wonderful dream.’

“‘Well,’ I says, ’I ain’t surprised.  A feller that h’isted in as much fried dough as you did ought to expect—­’

“’But I tell you ‘twas a wonderful dream,’ he says.  ’I dreamed I was on Blank Street, where we was this mornin’, and Patrick Kelly comes to me and p’ints his finger right in my face.  I see him as plain as I see you now.  And he says to me—­he said it over and over, two or three times—­Seventeen,” says he, “Seventeen.”  Now what do you think of that?’

“‘Humph!’ I says.  ’I ain’t surprised.  I think ’twas just seventeen of them biscuits that you got away with.  Wonder to me you didn’t see somebody worse’n old Pat.’