"Awkward to meet a friend just when you're starting, wouldn't it ?" with a wink that he evidently meant to be funny.
I coloured up violently, and was aware that the other man had his eye on me.

I was being taken for a runaway! "Worth my while to keep chummy with you," said the heartless man of the road.

"Start a little flush, don't you ?" I ignored this pointed inquiry.
"Not bank-notes, I hope--because they've an unkind way of stopping them.
Not but what you might get rid of one or two if you make haste.

But they're ugly things to track a chap out by, you know.

Why, I knew a young fellow, much your age and build, borrowed a whole sheaf of 'em and went up north, and made up his mind he'd have a high old time.