"How long have you been twisted?" asked Sinton.

Billy appealed to the others. "When was it we had the stuff on the
bridge?"

"Yesterday morning," said the girl.

"Is that all gone?" asked Sinton.

"She went and told us to take it home," said Billy ruefully, "and 'cos
she said to, we took it. Pa had come back, he was drinking some more,
and he ate a lot of it--almost the whole thing, and it made him sick as
a dog, and he went and wasted all of it. Then he got drunk some more,
and now he's asleep again. We didn't get hardly none."

"You children sit on the steps until the man comes," said Sinton. "I'll
send you some things to eat with him. What's your name, sonny?"

"Billy," said the boy.

"Well, Billy, I guess you better come with me. I'll take care of him,"
Sinton promised the others. He reached a hand to Billy.

"I ain't no baby, I'm a boy!" said Billy, as he shuffled along beside
Sinton, taking a kick at every movable object without regard to his
battered toes.

Once they passed a Great Dane dog lolling after its master, and Billy
ascended Sinton as if he were a tree, and clung to him with trembling