Bronx, and the chances are she will be there all night, as she is very fond of wakes, so I
must mind little John Ignatius Junior.'
'Listen, Butch,' Harry the Horse says, 'this is a very soft pete. It is old-fashioned, and you
can open it with a toothpick. There are no wires on it, because they never put more than a
dime in it before in years. It just happens they have to put the twenty G's in it tonight
because my pal the paymaster makes it a point not to get back from the jug with the
scratch in time to pay-off to-day, especially after he sees we miss out on him. It is the
softest touch you will ever know, and where can a guy pick up ten G's like this?'
I can see that Big Butch is thinking the ten G's over very seriously, at that, because in
these times nobody can afford to pass up ten G's, especially a guy in the beer business,
which is very, very tough just now. But finally he shakes his head again and says like
this:
'No,' he says, 'I must let it go, because I must mind the baby. My old lady is very, very
particular about this, and I dast not leave little John Ignatius Junior for a minute. If Mary
comes home and finds I am not minding the baby she will put the blast on me plenty. I
like to turn a few honest bobs now and then as well as anybody, but,' Butch says, 'John
Ignatius Junior comes first with me.'
Then he turns away and goes back to the stoop as much as to say he is through arguing,
and sits down beside John Ignatius Junior again just in time to keep a mosquito from
carrying off one of John's legs. Anybody can see that Big Butch is very fond of this baby,
though personally I will not give you a dime for a dozen babies, male and female.
Well, Harry the Horse and Little Isadore and Spanish John are very much disappointed,
and stand around talking among themselves, and paying no attention to me, when all of a
sudden Spanish John, who never has much to say up to this time, seems to have a bright
idea. He talks to Harry and Isadore, and they get all pleasured up over what he has to say,
and finally Harry goes to Big Butch.
'Sh-h-h-h!' Big Butch says, pointing to the baby as Harry opens his mouth. 'Listen,
Butch,' Harry says in a whisper, 'we can take the baby with us, and you can mind it and
work, too.'
'Why,' Big Butch whispers back, 'this is quite an idea indeed. Let us go into the house and
talk things over.'
So he picks up the baby and leads us into his joint, and gets out some pretty fair beer,
though it is needled a little, at that, and we sit around the kitchen chewing the fat in
whispers. There is a crib in the kitchen, and Butch puts the baby in this crib, and it keeps
on snoozing away first rate while we are talking. In fact, it is sleeping so sound that I am
commencing to figure that Butch must give it some of the needled beer he is feeding us,
because I am feeling a little dopey myself