Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/415

 "Don't forget to take your Bible wi' you, dear boy."

Jim Slagg rose with a pleasant nod, slapped the breast of his coat, on which the oblong form of a small book in the pocket could be traced, said "Good-day, mother," and left the cottage.

It was not long before he stood in the dark passage which led to the room described to him by the tramp. The old woman who rented it gave him her unasked opinion of her lodger before admitting him.

"You 've got no notion, sir, what a strange character that young man is."

"O yes, I have; let me see him," said Slagg.

"But, sir," continued the landlady, detaining him, "you must be careful, for he ain't hisself quite. Not that he 's ever done anythink wiolent to me, poor young man, but he 's strong in his fits, an' he raves terribly."

"Has no doctor bin to see him?" asked Slagg.

"No; he won't let me send for one. He says it 's o' no use, an' he couldn't afford to pay for one. An' oh! you 've no notion what a miser that poor young man is. He must have plenty of money, for the box as he takes it out on—an' it 's at his head he keeps it day and night, ginerally holdin' it with one hand—seems full o' money, for it 's wonderful heavy. I could see that when he brought it here,