"  They  don't  let  everyloody  into  this  room,  's  I  was
tellin'  ye.  This  room  is  for  the  big-bugs,  you  know.
Sometimes  a  drunk  will  get  in,  though,  in  spite  of
everything.  Why,  I  've  seen  a  drunk  at  the  station-
house,  when  I  've  been  gettin'  my  order  for  a  bed,
stiffen  up  so 't  the  captain  himself  thought  he  was
sober;  and  then  I've  followed  him  round  here,
wobblin'  and  corkscrewin'  all  over  the  sidewalk  ;  and


THE  APPRENTICESHIP  OF  LEMUEL  BARKER.     101

then  I  Ve  seen  him  stiffen  np  in  the  office  again,  and
go  through  his  bath  like  a  little  man,  and  get  into
bed  as  drunk  as  a  fish  ;  and  may  be  wake  up  in  the
night  with  the  man  with  the  poker  after  him,  and
make  things  hum.  Well,  sir,  one  night  there  was  a
drunk  in  here  that  thought  the  man  with  the  poker
was  after  him,  and  he  just  up  and  jumped  out  of
this  window  behind  you — three  stories  from  the
ground."

Lemuel  could  not  help  lifting  himself  in  bed  to
look  at  it.  "  Did  it  kill  him  1 "  he  asked.
