The old man shook his gray head despondently and, with a weary sigh and long-drawn whistling breaths, sank down on an oat bin.
"I did hev one time," he wheezed, in the cracked, querulous tones of the aged. "Plenty o' money, too! Oh, I hed lots o' friends--then. I raised four of a family--three boys an' a girl. They're all married, an' livin' in different parts o' th' States. They don't bother none over th' ol' man--now. Th' wife--she was th' last one as I hed in th' world ter call friend. She died last Christmas, so I come over here. Son," he said, with an impressive solemnity, pausing a moment, "whin yu' see a man o' my years down an' out, what d'yu' gen'rally figger's wrong?"
Ellis, with an inscrutable face, was thoughtfully studying the venerable, weary countenance of his elderly vis-a-vis.
"I reckon yu' hev it," was the hopeless reply. "Me own worst friend! But--I hev always bin honest."
The policeman considered the other's face a moment or two longer, then suddenly made up his mind.
"I'll take a chance on it," he muttered; then, raising his voice. "See here; look, Bryan," he said. "Sizin' things up as they've panned out up to date, I believe yu've been tellin' me th' straight tale, all right. Now, I've got another feller in here--locked up. There's only one cell. But I'm not a-goin' to shut yu' in with a dirty criminal like him, if yu'll give me yore word as th' honest man yu' call yoreself, yu' won't try to skip out on me. I'll be away tonight--or th' best part o' th' night--on duty. So yu' an' this feller'll be alone in here. Yu're not to talk to him, mind. Yu' can give him a cup o' water thru' th' bars if he wants it, but no matches or anythin' to smoke. I'm takin' no chances on a fire while I'm away. Yu' can just lay around an' sleep on my cot, an' let that feller think as yu're a-watchin' him. 'Member," he added warningly, "if yu' _did_ try to skip, I could easy catch yu' ag'in ... an' it'd be a sure sign yu' was a guilty accomplice o' these fellers. I need yu' as an all-important witness, an' this is th' only chance yu've got of gettin' clear. D'yu' get me now?"
The old man, seeming grateful at the trust thus reposed in him, eagerly gave the required promise.