CUT-OFFS AXD STEPHEN.	183
I can pay off all my debts ! And most especially I wanted him to he
here when I announced it. Yes, my faithful friend,—my benefactor,
I've found the method! I've found the method to pay off all my
debts, and vuu'H set vour monev!' Hope dawned in Yates's eye;
*	^	*	v	•"•	-VT       I	f
fhen Stephen, beaming benignamly, and placing his hand upon xates s
head, added, 41 ani going to pay them off in alphabetical order I'
Then he turned ami disappeared. The full significance of Stephen's
* method' did not dawn upon the perplexed and musing crowd for
some two minutes ; and then Yates murmured with a sigh—
• Weil, the Y's stand a gaudy chance, He won't get any further
than the C's in this world, and I reckon that after a good deal of
eternity has wasted away in the next one, I'll still be referred to up
there as *•' that poor, ragged pilot that came here from St. Louis in
the env'Y davsl "'