“He grabs Jonadab by the arm and starts along the sidewalk, steerin’ a toler’ble crooked course, but gainin’ steady by jerks.

“‘I was on me way to Kelly’s place now,’ says he.  ’And here it is.  Sure didn’t I bate the bookies blind on Rosebud but yesterday—­or was it the day before?  I don’t know, but come on, me lads, and we’ll do him again.’

“He turned in at a little narrer entry-like, and went stumblin’ up a flight of dirty stairs.  I caught hold of Jonadab’s coat tails and pulled him back.

“‘Where you goin’, you crazy loon?’ I whispered.  ’Can’t you see he’s three sheets in the wind?  And you haven’t told him what Kelly you want, nor nothin’.’

“But I might as well have hollered at a stone wall.  ’I don’t care if he’s as fur gone in liquor as Belshazzer’s goat,’ sputters the Cap’n, all worked up.  ‘He’s takin’ us to a Kelly, ain’t he?  And is it likely there’d be another one within three doors of the number I dreamed about?  Didn’t I tell you that dream was a vision sent?  Don’t lay to now, Barzilla, for the land sakes!  It’s Providence a-workin’.’

“’Cording to my notion the sunflower looked more like an agent from t’other end of the line than one from Providence, but just then he commenced to yell for us and upstairs we went, Jonadab first.

“‘Whisht!’ says the checkerboard, holdin’ on to Jonadab’s collar and swingin’ back and forth.  ’Before we proceed to blow in on me friend Kelly, let us come to an understandin’ concernin’ and touchin’ on—­and—­and—­I don’t know.  But b’ys,’ says he, solemn and confidential, ‘are you on the square?  Are yez dead game sports, hey?’

“‘Yes, yes!’ says Jonadab.  ’Course we be.  Mr. Kelly and us are old friends.  We’ve come I don’t know how fur on purpose to see him.  Now where’s—­’

“‘Say no more,’ hollers the feller.  ‘Say no more.  Come on with yez.’  And he marches down the dark hall to a door with a ‘To let’ sign on it and fetches it a bang with his fist.  It opens a little ways and a face shows in the crack.

“‘Hello, Frank!’ hails the sunflower, cheerful.  ’Will you take that ugly mug of yours out of the gate and lave me friends in?’

“‘What’s the matter wid you, Mike?’ asks the chap at the door.  ’Yer can’t bring them two yaps in here and you know it.  Gwan out of this.’

“He tried to shut the door, but the checkerboard had his foot between it and the jamb.  You might as well have tried to shove in the broadside of an ocean liner as to push against that foot.

“‘These gents are friends of mine,’ says he.  ’Frank, I’ll do yez the honor of an introduction to Gin’ral Grant and Dan’l O’Connell.  Open that door and compose your face before I’m obliged to break both of ’em.’

“‘But I tell you, Mike, I can’t,’ says the door man, lookin’ scared.  ‘The boss is out, and you know—­’

“‘Will you open that door?’ roars the big chap.  And with that he hove his shoulder against the panels and jammed the door open by main force, all but flattenin’ the other feller behind it.  ‘Walk in, Gin’ral,’ he says to Jonadab, and in we went, me wonderin’ what was comin’ next, and not darin’ to guess.