human
And are you allowing to adopt this 'ere kid who is setting himself up as a firebug?
gpt
I'd like to give him one more show, for I don't believe he'll go wrong again, an' if we can get Sam Barney so far away that he can't come back, it may be done.
human
But what about us? We're bound to give up all such information as we may happen to run across, and it's a serious matter to keep a close tongue on anything of that kind.
gpt
Have you _got_ to get Jip arrested?
human
It's our duty, and I ain't so certain that he's reformed.
gpt
But you never can know till he's been given a chance, an' it would be mighty tough if he had to have it put down against him when he grows up, that he's been in jail.
human
I grant you all that, Amateur, yet the law says man or boy must pay the penalty for arson, and it wouldn't be fair to make an exception in his case.
gpt
What do you mean by arson?
human
That's the name given to the crime of setting fires, and when the trick is played in the night, in a building where people are living, it costs the criminal a good many years of his life.
gpt
Ain't there anything I can do to help the poor feller out of the scrape?
human
That's what I can't say right on the spur of the minute; but I'll think the matter over, and it may be we'll see a way out if you're dead sure he won't try any more such games.
gpt
I don't believe he will, 'cause he's feelin' mighty bad, an' promises to be straight after this.
human
I've thought all along that he ought'er be sent up for startin' the fire, Dan said with an air of exceeding wisdom;
gpt
I wouldn't be surprised if the amateur was nearer in the right than you are, Daniel, though the officers of the law may look at the matter in a different light. However, the young reprobate hasn't been caught yet, even if that keen-eyed detective of yours is on his track, and we'll drop the subject for a spell. What I wanted to see the amateur about was lodgings.
human
What's the matter? 'Lish Davis asked in surprise as he noted the expression on the boy's face.
gpt
It don't seem to strike you right because I'm thinking of where you'll find a shelter.
human
I'm 'fraid it'll seem like as if Dan an' I were beggin' for a bed. We can find one after a spell, an' it wouldn't be any new thing if we knocked around the streets a few nights.
gpt
Now, don't distress yourself on the score of begging, the driver said with a hearty laugh.
human
I've come to know how thin-skinned you are on that point, and ain't counting on giving either of you the value of a pin. But it so happens that a friend of mine lives in the next block, and he's got a room in his attic that he's just dying to let. I was telling him about you kids, and he'll make what I call a fair trade.
gpt
Do you mean that we're to hire a reg'lar room?
human
Why not, if it comes cheap enough? Now, this 'ere place I'm speaking of ain't very swell, and I don't allow he could let it to any but boys like you. He'll give a lease of it, with bed and such furniture thrown in as his wife can scare up, for fifty cents a week. By blacking Ben Dunton's and my boots five mornings a week you'll have the price earned, and it'll pay a heap better than skinning 'round the streets, likely to be moved on by a policeman a dozen times 'twixt sunset and sunrise.