Page:Earl Derr Biggers - Seven Keys to Baldpate (1913).djvu/173

Rh "Well, he'd been sitting there about ten min- utes, Sam tells me, when along came about the easiest picking that ever got loose from the old homestead—"

"I beg your pardon," protested Professor Bol- ton.

"The ready money, the loosened kale, the posies in the garden waiting to be plucked," elucidated Mr. Max. "This guy, Sam says, was such a per fect rube he just naturally looked past him to see if there was a trail of wisps of hay on the floor. For a while Sam sits there with a grouch as he thought how hard it was to put business aside and get a little rest now and then, and debating whether, being on a vacation, as it was, he'd exert himself enough to stretch forth his hand and take whatever money the guy had. While he was argu- ing the matter with himself, the jay settled the question by coming over and sitting down near him.

"He's in the city, he tells Sam, to enjoy the moving pictures of the streets, and otherwise for- get the trees back home that grow the cherries in the bottom pf the cocktail glasses. And believe