Show SEWER PIPE F IPE HOTEL starving youth led home by another wall waif in paris doy boy shares in outcasts fare strang er cr able to rescue guide out but other inmates perish when stove upsets parts robert epiphane was looking down at the river wondering ito ho was seventeen years year old and whenever tho the police arrea arrested ted him his trade was entered on an tho the books as ail mattress maker some YOM years ago robert bead bad worked at mattress mate mak ing that Is to say ho he had bad a vague vague of combing combine wool tor for an old woman who made over mattresses outside house doors and who gave robert something to oat eat when he be refused to do any more work on an an empty stomach but that was a long timo time ago robert robart epiphane was not quite sure how long ago it was waa because he had bad been hungry for or a long timo time ile he had slept on a bench on an the boulevards tho the night before then the miracle happened robert robart epiphano was looking at tho the water and wondering and as ho he looked at the water a little boat drifted by an absurd little boat made of an old cigar box it a bit of 0 lead pencil and string robert robea epiphane looked at it it lazily then he bo shouted aloud he had bad seen a panny piece two whole sous in the cigar box robert epiphane never know knew how hd ha got down to tho the water halves said a yet voice in a vh whisper is behind him robert epiphano gave a whimper that was meant to bee be a howl bowl of rage then stipp clipping ing the penny into his mouth it was waa weak but it was cater cafer than in his pocket he struck blindly at another raga muffle who caught him as ho he fell the other ragamuffin was standing over him as ho he sat oat on the muddy ground well old man he whispered in the hoarse voiceless vol celesa wats whisper in which he had said eald halves the voice which starvation and exposure gives to parts parla wastrels wastrel s well old man and what about 1 it t its mine said robert epiphane 1 I can get a bit of sausage and bread brea A for it corn come e with me said the other they had not far to go on the way the second scarecrow whose name he told robert was maurice faction was spinning a fairy tale which amused robert but which did not believe it was all about IV forgotten sewer pipe a bea beautiful dutiful big piece of piping furnished with sacking and a stove a big pipe in a quiet aulet corner comer where no police ever came where maurice faction and ana three other men jules george and henri had been living for a week 0 robert epiphane did not believe the story but it amused his muddled brain and as long as that penny was safe in his hand he did not care then they came to the palace and to his amazement he saw what maurice faction had bad told him was true robert nearly pitched head first on the stove when his eyes had accustomed themselves to the dim light in the palace for near it on a news paper there was waa a banquet the poor of parts parla call it arlequin it la is a mixture ot of scraps ot of cold food from the restaurants and you get quite a lot for a half penny for bones are ara salable commodities and the arlequin men have a better bettel use for the fat than to sell it for food there must have been quite three penny worth there on the newspaper robert made mada a dash for a hanl handful ul and his hie venny nenny rang clear on the pipe the three men woke up that money they said eald all together maurice faction explained pla ined robert was a little orr off his head bead with cold and hunger like ilka tho the rest of us ua he told them lie he had tried to kill him when be wanted to go halves in the penny he thought they might take robert in and let him be a lodger for the night the very poor dont talk much to each other the other oth er men glanced at robert grunted and made madd room for him jules looked at him keenly pocketed the peguy and then ihen went to sleep again satisfied lie he was dreaming that the smoke was choking him when he woke up somebody had kicked the stove over tho the other four were sound asleep and stupefied the palace was a stifling prison he fou fought ht with the wooden door for what seemed hours then at last he ha broke it open for more hours many more or that was what it seemed he tugged at the four bodies till ho he pulled them out two policemen found them georges and henry were dead and jules would never steal paving blocks again dut but the lodger and maurice are in the bitle hospital in real beds with real white sheets now and they drink milk out of clean cup cubs all day long |