[Frontispiece: _The Sorrel Mare was tugging hard at the Rein_. ]

CROWDED OUT O' CROFIELD

OR

THE BOY WHO MADE HIS WAY

BY

WILLIAM O. STODDARD

_SIXTH EDITION_

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1897

COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 

PREFACE. 

Only a few of the kindly reviewers of the earlier editions of CrowdedOut o' Crofield have suggested that it has at all exaggerated thepossible career of its boy and girl actors. If any others havesilently agreed with them, it may be worth while to say that thepictures of places and the doings of older and younger people arepretty accurately historical. The story and the writing of it weresuggested in a conversation with an energetic American boy who wascrowded out of his own village into a career which led to somethingmuch more surprising than a profitable junior partnership. 

W. O. S. 

NEW YORK, 1893. 

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER

 I. --THE BLACKSMITH'S BOY II. --THE FISH WERE THERE III. --I AM ONLY A GIRL IV. --CAPTAIN MARY V. --JACK OGDEN'S RIDE VI. --OUT INTO THE WORLD VII. --MARY AND THE _EAGLE_ VIII. --CAUGHT FOR A BURGLAR IX. --NEARER THE CITY X. --THE STATE-HOUSE AND THE STEAMBOAT XI. --DOWN THE HUDSON XII. --IN A NEW WORLD XIII. --A WONDERFUL SUNDAY XIV. --FRIENDS AND ENEMIES XV. --NO BOY WANTED XVI. --JACK'S FAMINE XVII. --JACK-AT-ALL-TRADES XVIII. --THE DRUMMER BOY XIX. --COMPLETE SUCCESS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The Sorrel Mare was tugging hard at the Rein . . . _Frontispiece_

The Runaway

Along the Water's Edge

Fighting the Fire

"Run for Home"

He listened in silence

"There won't be any _Eagle_ this week"

Just out

"I'm the Editor, sir"

"There, " said Mr. Murdoch, "jump right in"

"Your map's all wrong, " said Jack

The hotel clerk looked at Jack

His traveler friend was sound asleep

On Broadway, at last!

"How would he get in?"

Coffee and clams

Jack is homesick

"I've lost my pocket-book"

"Ten cents left"

Jack dines with Mr. Keifelheimer

Buying a new hat

Jack speaks to the General

The return home

CROWDED OUT O' CROFIELD. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE BLACKSMITH'S BOY. 

"I'm going to the city!"

He stood in the wide door of the blacksmith-shop, with his hands in hispockets, looking down the street, toward the rickety old bridge overthe Cocahutchie. He was a sandy-haired, freckled-faced boy, and if hewas really only about fifteen, he was tall for his age. Across the topof the door, over his head, stretched a cracked and faded sign, with ahorseshoe painted on one end and a hammer on the other, and the name"John Ogden, " almost faded out, between them. 

The blacksmith-shop was a great, rusty, grimy clutter of work-benches, vises, tools, iron in bars and rods, and all sorts of old iron scrapsand things that looked as if they needed making over. 

The forge was in the middle, on one side, and near it was hitched ahorse, pawing the ground with a hoof that bore a new shoe. On theanvil was a brilliant, yellow-red loop of iron, that was not quite yeta new shoe, and it was sending out bright sparks as a hammer fell uponit--"thud, thud, thud, " and a clatter. Over the anvil leaned a tall, muscular, dark-haired, grimy man. His face wore a disturbed andanxious look, and it was covered with charcoal dust. There wasaltogether too much charcoal along the high bridge of his Roman noseand over his jutting eyebrows. 

The boy in the door also had some charcoal on his cheeks and forehead, but none upon his nose. His nose was not precisely like theblacksmith's. It was high and Roman half-way down, but just there wasa little dent, and the rest of the nose was straight. His complexion, excepting the freckles and charcoal, was chiefly sunburn, down to theneckband of his blue checked shirt. He was a tough, wiry-looking boy, and there was a kind of smiling, self-confident expression in hisblue-gray eyes and around his firm mouth. 

"I'm going to the city!" he said, again, in a low but positive voice. "I'll get there, somehow. "

Just then a short, thick-set man came hurrying past him into the shop. He was probably the whitest man going into that or any other shop, andhe spoke out at once, very fast, but with a voice that sounded as if itcame through a bag of meal. 

"Ogden, " said he, "got him shod? If you have, I'll take him. What doyou say about that trade?"

"I don't want any more room than there is here, " said the blacksmith, "and I don't care to move my shop. "

"There's nigh onto two acres, mebbe more, all along the creek frombelow the mill to Deacon Hawkins's line, below the bridge, " wheezed themealy, floury, dusty man, rapidly. "I'll get two hundred for it someday, ground or no ground. Best place for a shop. "

"This lot suits me, " said the smith, hammering away. "'Twouldn't payme to move--not in these times. "

The miller had more to say, while he unhitched his horse, but he ledhim out without getting any more favorable reply about the trade. 

"Come and blow, Jack, " said the smith, and the boy in the door turnedpromptly to take the handle of the bellows. 

The little heap of charcoal and coke in the forge brightened and sentup fiery tongues, as the great leathern lungs wheezed and sighed, andJack himself began to puff. 

"I've got to have a bigger man than you are, for a blower and striker, "said the smith. "He's coming Monday morning. It's time you were doingsomething, Jack. "

"Why, father, " said Jack, as he ceased pulling on the bellows, and theshoe came out of the fire, "I've been doing something ever since I wastwelve. Been working here since May, and lots o' times before that. Learned the trade, too. "

"You can make a nail, but you can't make a shoe, " said his father, ashe sizzed the bit of bent iron in the water-tub and then threw it onthe ground. "Seven. That's all the shoes I'll make this morning, andthere are seven of you at home. Your mother can't spare Molly, butyou'll have to do something. It is Saturday, and you can go fishing, after dinner, if you'd like to. There's nothin' to ketch 'round here, either. Worst times there ever were in Crofield. "

There was gloom as well as charcoal on the face of the blacksmith, butJack's expression was only respectfully serious as he walked away, without speaking, and again stood in the door for a moment. 

"I could catch something in the city. I know I could, " he said, tohimself. "How on earth shall I get there?"

The bridge, at the lower end of the sloping side-street on which theshop stood, was long and high. It was made to fit the road and was anumber of sizes too large for the stream of water rippling under it. The side-street climbed about twenty rods the other way into what wasevidently the Main Street of Crofield. There was a tavern on onecorner, and across the street from that there was a drug store and init was the post-office. On the two opposite corners were shops, andall along Main Street were all sorts of business establishments, sandwiched in among the dwellings. 

It was not yet noon, but Crofield had a sleepy look, as if all its workfor the whole week were done. Even the horses of the farmers' teams, hitched in front of the stores, looked sleepy. Jack Ogden took hislongest look, this time, at a neat, white-painted frame-house acrossthe way. 

"Seems to me there isn't nearly so much room in it as there used tobe, " he said to himself. "It's just packed and crowded. I'm going!"

He turned and walked on up toward Main Street, as if that were the bestthing he could do till dinner time. Not many minutes later, a girlplainly but neatly dressed came slowly along in front of the villagegreen, away up Main Street. She was tall and slender, and her hair andeyes were as dark as those of John Ogden, the blacksmith. Her nose waslike his, too, except that it was finer and not so high, and she worevery much the same anxious, discontented look upon her face. She waswalking slowly, because she saw, coming toward her, a portly lady, withhair so flaxy that no gray would show in it. She was elegantlydressed. She stopped and smiled and looked very condescending. 

"Good-morning, Mary Ogden, " she said. 

"Good-morning, Miss Glidden, " said Mary, the anxious look in her eyeschanging to a gleam that made them seem very wide awake. 

"It's a fine morning, Mary Ogden, but so very warm. Is your motherwell?"

"Very well, thank you, " said Mary. 

"And is your aunt well--and your father, and all the children? I'm soglad they are well. Elder Holloway's to be here to-morrow. Hopeyou'll all come. I shall be there myself. You've had my class anumber of times. Much obliged to you. I'll be there to-morrow. Youmust hear the Elder. He's to inspect the Sunday-school. "

"Your class, Miss Glidden?" began Mary; and her face suggested thatsomebody was blowing upon a kind of fire inside her cheeks, and thatthey would be very red in a minute. 

"Yes; don't fail to be there to-morrow, Mary. The choir'll be full, ofcourse. I shall be there myself. "

"I hope you will, Miss Glidden--"

The portly lady saw something up the street at that moment. 

"Oh my! What is it? Dear me! It's coming! Run! We'll all bekilled! Oh my!"

She had turned quite around, while she was speaking, and was once morelooking up the street; but the dark-haired girl had neither flinchednor wavered. She had only sent a curious, inquiring glance in thedirection of the shouts and the rattle and the cloud of dust that werecoming swiftly toward them. 

"A runaway team, " she said, quietly. "Nobody's in the wagon. "

"Dear me!" exclaimed Miss Glidden; but Mary began to move away, lookingnot at her but at the runaway, and she did not hear the rest. "MaryOgden's too uppish. --Somebody'll be killed, I know they will!--She'sgot to be taken down. --There they come!--Dressed too well for ablacksmith's daughter. Doesn't know her place. --Oh dear! I'm sofrightened!"

Perhaps she had been wise in getting behind the nearest tree. It was ayoung maple, two inches through, lately set out, but it might havestopped a pair of very small horses. Those in the road werelarge--almost too large to run well. They were well-matched grays, andthey came thundering along in a way that was really fine to behold;heads down, necks arched, nostrils wide, reins flying, the wagon behindthem banging and swerving--no wonder everybody stood still and, exceptMary Ogden, shouted, "Stop 'em!" One young fellow, across the street, stood still only until the runaways were all but close by him. Then hedarted out into the street, not ahead of them but behind them. No manon earth could have stopped those horses by standing in front of them. They could have charged through a regiment. Their heavy, furiousgallop was fast, too, and the boy who was now following them, must havebeen as light of foot as a young deer. 

"Hurrah! Hurrah! Go it, Jack! Catch 'em! Bully for you!" arose froma score of people along the sidewalk, as he bounded forward. 

"It's Jack! Oh dear me! But it's just like him! There! He's in!"exclaimed Mary Ogden, her dark eyes dancing proudly. 

"Why, it's that good-for-nothing brother of Mary Ogden. He's theblacksmith's boy. I'm afraid he will be hurt, " remarked Miss Glidden, kindly and benevolently; but all the rest shouted "Hurrah!" again. 

Fierce was the strain upon the young runner, for a moment, and then hishands were on the back-board of the bouncing wagon. A tug, a spring, aswerve of the wagon, and Jack Ogden was in it, and in a second more theloosely flying reins were in his hands. 

The strong arms of his father, were they twice as strong, could not atonce have pulled in those horses, and one man on the sidewalk seemed tobe entirely correct when he said, "He's a plucky little fellow, but hecan't do a thing, now he's there. "

[Illustration: _The Runaway_. ]

His sister was trembling all over, but she was repeating: "He did itsplendidly! He can do anything!"

Jack, in the wagon, was thinking only: "I know 'em. They're oldHammond's team. They'll try to go home to the mill. They'll smasheverything, if I don't look out!"

It is something, even to a greatly frightened horse, to feel a hand onthe rein. The team intended to turn out of Main Street, at the corner, and they made the turn, but they did not crash the wagon to piecesagainst the corner post, because of the desperate guiding that was doneby Jack. The wagon swung around without upsetting. It tiltedfearfully, and the nigh wheel was in the air for a moment, until Jack'sweight helped bring it down again. There was a short, sharp screamacross the street, when the wagon swung and the wheel went up. 

Down the slope toward the bridge thundered the galloping team, and theblacksmith ran out of his shop to see it pass. 

"Turn them into the creek, Jack!" he shouted, but there was no time forany answer. 

"They'd smash through the bridge, " thought Jack. "I know what I'mabout. "

There were wheel-marks down from the street, at the left of the bridge, where many a team had descended to drink the water of the Cocahutchie, but it required all Jack's strength on one rein to make his runawaystake that direction. They had thought of going toward the mill, butthey knew the watering-place. 

Not many rods below the bridge stood a clump of half a dozen gigantictrees, remnants of the old forest which had been replaced by thestreets of Crofield and the farms around it. Jack's pull on the leftrein was obeyed only too well, and it looked, for some seconds, as ifthe plunging beasts were about to wind up their maddened dash by awreck among those gnarled trunks and projecting roots. Jack drew hisbreath hard, and there was almost a chill at his young heart, but heheld hard and said nothing. 

Forward--one plunge more--hard on the right rein--

"That was close!" he said. "If we didn't go right between the bigmaple and the cherry! Now I've got 'em!"

Splash, crash, rattle! Spattering and plunging, but cooling fast, thegray team galloped along the shallow bed of the Cocahutchie. 

"I wish the old swimming-hole was deeper, " said Jack, "but the water'svery low. Whoa, boys! Whoa, there! Almost up to the hub--over thehub! Whoa, now!"

And the gray team ceased its plunging and stood still in water threefeet deep. 

"I mustn't let 'em drink too much, " said Jack; "but a little won't hurt'em. "

The horses were trembling all over, but one after the other they puttheir noses into the water, and then raised their heads to prick theirears back and forth and look round. 

"Don't bring 'em ashore till they're quiet, Jack, " called out the deep, ringing voice of his father from the bank. 

There he stood, and other men were coming on the run. The tallblacksmith's black eyes were flashing with pride over the daring feathis son had performed. 

"I daren't tell him, though, " he said to himself. "He's set up enougha'ready. He thinks he can do 'most anything. "

"Jack, " wheezed a mealy voice at his side, "that's my team--"

"I know it, " said Jack. "They 're all right now. Pretty close shavethrough the trees, that was!"

"I owe ye fifty dollars for a-savin' them and the wagin, " said themiller. "It's wuth it, and I'll pay it; but I've got to owe it to ye, jest now. Times are awful hard in Crofield. If I'd ha' lost themhosses and that wagin--"

He stopped short, as if he could not exactly say how disastrous itwould have been for him. 

There was a running fire of praise and of questions poured at Jack, bythe gathering knot of people on the shore, and it was several minutesbefore his father spoke again. 

"They're cool now, " he said. "Turn 'em, Jack, and walk 'em out by thebridge, and up to the mill. Then come home to dinner. "

Jack pretended not to see quite a different kind of group gatheredunder the clump of tall trees. Not a voice had come to him from thatgroup of lookers-on, and yet the fact that they were there made himtingle all over. 

Two large, freckle-faced, sandy-haired women were hugging each other, and wiping their eyes; and a very small girl was tugging at theirdresses and crying, while a pair of girls of from twelve to fourteen, close by them, seemed very much inclined to dance. Two small boys, whoat first belonged to the party, had quickly rolled up their trousersand waded out as far as they could into the Cocahutchie. Just in frontof the group, under the trees, stood Mary Ogden, straight as an arrow, her dark eyes flashing and her cheeks glowing while she looked silentlyat the boy on the wagon in the stream, until she saw him wheel thegrays. Even then she did not say anything, but turned and walked away. It was as if she had so much to say that she felt she could not say it. 

"Aunt Melinda! Mother!" said one of the girls, "Jack isn't hurt amite. They'd all ha' been drowned, though, if there was water enough. "

"Hush, Bessie, " said one of the large women, and the other at onceechoed, "Hush, Bessie. "

They were very nearly alike, these women, and they both had longstraight noses, such as Jack's would have been, if half-way down it hadnot been Roman, like his father's. 

"Mary Ann, " said the first woman, "we mustn't say too much to him aboutit. He can only just be held in, now. "

"Hush, Melinda, " said Jack's mother. "I thought I'd seen the last ofhim when the gray critters came a-powderin' down the road past thehouse"--and then she wiped her eyes again, and so did Aunt Melinda, andthey both stooped down at the same moment, saying, "Jack's safe, Sally, " and picked up the small girl, who was crying, and kissed her. 

The gray team was surrendered to its owner as soon as it reached theroad at the foot of the bridge, and again Jack was loudly praised bythe miller. The rest of the Ogden family seemed to be disposed to keepaway, but the tall blacksmith himself was there. 

"Jack, " said he, as they turned away homeward, "you can go fishing thisafternoon, just as I said. I was thinking of your doing something elseafterward, but you've done about enough for one day. "

He had more to say, concerning what would have happened to the miller'shorses, and the number of pieces the wagon would have been knockedinto, but for the manner in which the whole team had been saved. 

When they reached the house the front door was open, but nobody was tobe seen. Bob and Jim, the two small boys, had not yet returned fromseeing the gray span taken to the mill, and the women and girls hadgone through to the kitchen. 

"Jack, " said his father, as they went in, "old Hammond'll owe you thatfifty dollars long enough. He never really pays anything. "

"Course he doesn't--not if he can help it, " said Jack. "I worked forhim three months, and you know we had to take it out in feed. Ilearned the mill trade, though, and that was something. "

Just then he was suddenly embarrassed. Mrs. Ogden had gone through thehouse and out at the back door, and Aunt Melinda had followed her, andso had the girls. Molly had suddenly gone up-stairs to her own room. Aunt Melinda had taken everything off the kitchen stove and puteverything back again, and here now was Mrs. Ogden back again, huggingher son. 

"Jack, " she said, "don't you ever, ever, do such a thing again. Youmight ha' been knocked into slivers!"

Molly had gone up the back stairs only to come down the front way, andshe was now a little behind them. 

"Mother!" she exclaimed, as if her pent-up admiration for her brotherwas exploding, "you ought to have seen him jump in, and you ought tohave seen that wagon go around the corner!"

"Jack, " broke in the half-choked voice of Aunt Melinda from the kitchendoorway, "come and eat something. I felt as if I knew you were killed, sure. If you haven't earned your dinner, nobody has. "

"Why, I know how to drive, " said Jack. "I wasn't afraid of 'em after Igot hold of the reins. "

He seemed even in a hurry to get through his dinner, and some minuteslater he was out in the garden, digging for bait. The rest of thefamily remained at the table longer than usual, especially Bob and Jim;but, for some reason known to herself, Mary did not say a word abouther meeting with Miss Glidden. Perhaps the miller's gray team had runaway with all her interest in that, but she did not even tell howcarefully Miss Glidden had inquired after the family. 

"There goes Jack, " she said at last, and they all turned to look. 

He did not say anything as he passed the kitchen door, but he had hislong cane fishing-pole over his shoulder. It had a line wound aroundit, ready for use. He went out of the gate and down the road towardthe bridge, and gave only a glance across at the shop. 

"I didn't get many worms, " he said to himself, at the bridge, "but Ican dig some more if the fish bite. Sometimes they do, and sometimesthey don't. "

Over the bridge he went, and up a wagon track on the opposite bank, buthe paused for one moment, in the very middle of the bridge, to look upstream. 

"There's just enough water to run the mill, " he said. "There isn't anycoming over the dam. The pond's even full, though, and it may be agood day for fish. I wish I was in the city!"

CHAPTER II. 

THE FISH WERE THERE. 

Saturday afternoon was before Jack Ogden, when he came out at thewater's edge, near the dam, across from the mill. That was there, bigand red and rusty-looking; and the dam was there; and above them wasthe mill-pond, spreading out over a number of acres, and ornamentedwith stumps, old logs, pond-lilies, and weeds. It was a fairly goodpond, the best that Cocahutchie Creek could do for Crofield, but Jack'sface fell a little as he looked at it. 

"There are more fellows than fish here, " he said to himself, with anair of disgust. 

There was a boy at the end of the dam near him, and a boy in the middleof it, and two boys at the flume, near the mill. There were threepunts out on the water, and one of them had in it a man and two boys, while the second boat held but one man, and the third contained four. A big stump near the north shore supported a boy, and the old snagjutting out from the south shore held a boy and a man. 

There they all were, sitting perfectly still, until, one after another, each rod and line came up to have its hook and bait examined, to seewhether or not there had really been a bite. 

"I'm fairly crowded out, " remarked Jack. "Those fellows have all thegood places. I'll have to go somewhere else; where'll I go?"

He studied that problem for a full minute, while every fisherman thereturned to look at him, and then turned back to watch his line. 

"I guess I'll try down stream, " said Jack. "Nobody ever caughtanything down there, and nobody ever goes there, but I s'pose I mightas well try it, just for once. "

He turned away along the track over which he had come. He did notpause at the road and bridge, but went on down the further bank of theCocahutchie. It was a pretty stream of water, and it spread out wideand shallow, and rippled merrily among stones and bowlders and clumpsof willow and alder for nearly half a mile. Gradually, then, it grewnarrower, quieter, deeper, and wore a sleepy look which made it seemmore in keeping with quiet old Crofield. 

"The hay's about ready to cut, " said Jack, as he plodded along thepath, near the water's edge, through a thriving meadow of clover andtimothy. "There's always plenty of work in haying time. Hullo! Whatgrasshoppers! Jingo!"

As he made the last exclamation, he clapped his hand upon his trouserspocket. 

"If I didn't forget to go in and get my sinker! Never did such a thingbefore in all my life. What's the use of trying to fish without asinker?"

The luck seemed to be going directly against him. Even theCocahutchie, at his left, had dwindled to a mere crack between bushesand high grass, as if to show that it had no room to let for fish tolive in--that is, for fish accustomed to having plenty of room, such asthey could find when living in a mill-pond, lined around the edges withboys and fish-poles. 

"That's a whopper!" suddenly exclaimed Jack, with a quick snatch atsomething that alighted upon his left arm. "I've caught him!Grasshoppers are the best kind of bait, too. I'll try him on, sinkeror no sinker. Hope there are some fish, down here. "

The line he unwound from his rod was somewhat coarse, but it wasstrong, and so was his hook, as if the fishing around Crofield calledfor stout tackle as well as for a large number of sportsmen. The big, long-limbed, green-coated jumper was placed in position on the hook, and then, with several more grumbling regrets over the absence of anysinker, Jack searched along the bank for a place whence he could throwhis bait into the water. 

"This'll do, " he said, at last, and the breeze helped him to swing outhis line until the grasshopper at the end of it dropped lightly andnaturally into a dark little eddy, almost across that narrow ribbon ofthe Cocahutchie. 

Splash--tug--splash again--

"Jingo! What's that? I declare--if he isn't pulling! He'll break theline--no, he won't. See that pole bend! Steady--here he comes. Hurrah!"

Out he came, indeed, for the rude, strong tackle held, even against thegame struggling of that vigorous trout. There he lay now, on thegrass, with Jack Ogden bending over him in a fever of exultation andamazement. 

"I never could have caught him with a worm and a sinker, " he said, aloud. "This is the way to catch 'em. Isn't he a big fellow! I'lltry some more grasshoppers. "

There was not likely to be another two-pound brook-trout very near thehole out of which that one had been pulled. There would not have beenany at all, perhaps, but for the prevailing superstition that therewere no fish there. Everybody knew that there were bullheads, suckers, perch, and "pumpkin-seeds" in the mill-pond, and eels, with now andthen a pickerel, but the trout were a profound secret. It was easy tocatch another big grasshopper, but the young sportsman knew very wellthat he knew nothing at all of that kind of fishing. He had made hisfirst cast perfectly, because it was about the only way in which itcould have been made, and now he was so very nervous and excited andcautious that he did very well again, aided as before by the breeze. Not in the same place, but at a little distance down, and close towhere Jack captured his second bait, there was a crook in theCocahutchie, with a steep, overhanging, bushy bank. Into the glassyshadow under that bank the sinkerless line carried and dropped itslittle green prisoner, and there was a hungry fellow in there, waitingfor foolish grasshoppers in the meadow to spring too far and come downupon the water instead of upon the grass. As the grasshopper alightedon the water, there was a rush, a plunge, a strong hard pull, and thenJack Ogden said to himself:

"I've heard how they do it. They wait and tire 'em out. I won't be intoo much of a hurry. He'll get away if I am. "

That is probably what the fish would have done, for he was a fish withwhat army men call "tactics. " He was able to pull very hard, and hewas also wise enough to rush in under the bank and to sulkily staythere. 

"Feels as if I'd hooked a snag, " said Jack. "May be I've lost the fishand he's hitched me into a 'cod-lamper' eel of some kind. Steady--no, I mustn't pull harder than the fish. "

He was breathless, but not with any exertion that he was making. Hishat fell off upon the grass, as he leaned forward through the alderbushes, and his sandy hair was tangled for a moment in some stubbytwigs. He loosened his head, still holding firmly his bent andstraining rod. One step farther, a slip of his left foot, anunsuccessful grasp at a bush, and then Jack went over and down into apool deeper than he had thought the Cocahutchie afforded so nearCrofield. 

There was a very fine splash, as the grasshopper fly-fisherman wentunder, and there was a coughing and spluttering a moment afterward, when his eager, excited, anxious face came up again. He could swimextremely well, and he was not thinking of his ducking--only of hisgame. 

"I hope I haven't lost him!" he exclaimed, as he tried to pull upon theline. 

It did not tug at all, just then, for the fish on the hook had beenrudely startled out from under the bank and was on his way up theCocahutchie, with the hook in his mouth. 

"There' he is! I've got him yet! Glad I can swim--" cried Jack; andit did seem as if he and this fish were very well matched, except thatJack had to give one of his hands to the rod while his captive coulduse every fin. 

Down stream floated Jack, passing the rod back through his hands untilhe could grasp the line, and all the while the fish was darting madlyabout to get away. 

"There, I've touched bottom. Now for him! Here he comes. I'll drawhim ashore easy--that's it! Hurrah! biggest fish ever was caught inthe Cocahutchie!"

That might or might not be so, but Jack Ogden had a three-pound trout, flopping angrily upon the grass at his feet. 

"I know how to do it now, " he almost shouted. "I can catch 'em! Iwon't let anybody else know how it's done, either. "

He had learned something, no doubt, but he had not learned how to makea large fish out of a small one. All the rest of that afternoon hecaught grasshoppers and cast them daintily into what seemed to be goodplaces, but he did not have another occasion to tumble in. When atlast he was tired out and decided to go home, he had a dozen more oftrout, not one of them weighing over six ounces, with a pair of verygood yellow perch, one very large perch, a sucker, and three bullheads, that bit when his bait happened to sink to the bottom without any leadto help it. Take it all in all, it was a great string of fish to becaught on a Saturday afternoon, when all that the Crofield sportsmenaround the mill-pond could show was six bullheads, a dozen small perch, a lot of "pumpkin-seeds" not much larger than dollars, five small eels, and a very vicious snapping-turtle. 

Jack stood for a moment looking down at the results of his experimentin fly-fishing. He felt, really, as if he could not more than halfbelieve it. 

"Fishing doesn't pay, " he said. "It doesn't pay cash, any way. Thereisn't anything around Crofield that does pay. Well, it must be timefor me to go home. "

CHAPTER III. 

I AM ONLY A GIRL. 

Jack was dry enough, but anybody could see that he had had a ducking, when he marched down the main street. He was carrying his prizes intwo strings, one in each hand, and he was looking and feeling tallerthan he ever felt before. It was just the right hour to meet people, and he had to answer curious questions from some women, and from twiceas many men, and from three times as many boys, all the way from abovethe green, where he came out into the street, down to the front of theWashington Hotel. 

"Yes; I caught 'em all in the Cocahutchie. "

He had had to say that any number of times, and he had also explained, apparently without trying to conceal anything:

"I had to swim for 'em. Caught 'em all under water. Those bigspeckled fellows are trout. They pulled me clean under. All that kindof fish live under water. " And he told half a dozen inquiring boys:"I've found the best fish-hole you ever saw. Deep water all 'round it. I'm going there again. " And then every one asked: "Take me with you, Jack?"

He had to come to a halt at the tavern, for every man in the arm-chairson the piazza brought his feet down from the railing. 

"Hold on! I want to look at those fish!" shouted old Livermore, thelandlord. "Where'd you catch 'em?"

"Down the Cocahutchie, " said Jack once more. "I caught 'em underwater. "

"Those are just what I'm looking for, " replied Livermore, rubbing hissides, while nearly a dozen men crowded around to admire, and to guessat the weights. 

"Traout's a-sellin' at a dollar a paound, over to Mertonville, "squealed old Deacon Hawkins; "and traout o' that size is wuth more'nsmall traout. Don't ye let old Livermore cheat ye, Jack. "

"I won't cheat him, Deacon, " said the big landlord. "I don't want anything but the trout. There's a Sunday crowd coming over fromMertonville, to-morrer, to hear Elder Holloway. I'll give ye twodollars, Jack. "

"That's enough for one fish, " said Jack. "Don't you want the big one?I had to dive for him. He'll weigh more'n three pounds. "

"No, he won't!" said the landlord, becoming more and more eager. "Saythree dollars for the lot. "

"I daon't know but what I want some o' them traout myself, " beganDeacon Hawkins, peering more closely at the largest prize. "It's hardtimes, --and a dollar a paound. I've got some folks comin' and ElderHolloway's to be at my haouse. I don't know but I oughter--"

"I'll take 'em, Jack, " interrupted the landlord, testily. "I spokefirst. Three pounds, and two is five pounds, and--"

"I'll give another dollar for the small traout, " exclaimed DeaconHawkins. "He can't have 'em all. "

The landlord might have hesitated even then, but the excitement wascatching, and Squire Jones was actually, but slowly, taking out hispocket-book. 

"Five! There's your five, Jack. The big fish are mine. Take yourmoney. Fetch 'em in, " broke out old Livermore. 

"There's my dollar, --and there's my traout, --" squealed the deacon. 

"I was just a-goin' to saay--" at that moment growled the deep, heavybass voice of Squire Jones. 

"Too late, " said the landlord. "He's taken my money. Come in, Jack. Come in and get yours, Deacon, " and Jack walked on into the WashingtonHouse with six dollars in his hand, just as a boy he knew stuck hishead under Squire Jones's arm and shouted:

"Jack!--Jack! Why didn't yer put 'em up at auction?"

It took but a minute to get rid of the very fine fish he had sold, andthen the uncommonly successful angler made his way out of theWashington Hotel through the side door. 

"I don't intend to answer any more questions, " he said to himself; "andall that crowd is out there yet. "

There was another reason that he did not give, for his perch, good asthey were, and the wide-mouthed sucker, and the great, clumsybullheads, looked mean and common, now that their elegant companionswere gone. He felt almost ashamed of them until just as he reached theback yard of his own home. 

A tall, grimy man, with his head under the pump, was vigorouslyscrubbing charcoal and iron dust from his face and hands and hair. "Jack, " he shouted, "where'd you get that string o' fish? Best I'veseen round here for ever so long. "

Another voice came from the kitchen door, and in half a second itseemed to belong to a chorus of voices. 

"Why, Jack Ogden! What a string of fish!"

"I caught 'em 'way down the Cocahutchie, Mother, " said Jack. "I caught'em all under water. Had to go right in after some of 'em. "

"I should say you did, " growled his father, almost jocosely, and thenhe and Mrs. Ogden and Aunt Melinda and the children crowded around toexamine the fish, on the pump platform. 

"Jack must do something better'n that, " said his father, rubbing hisface hard with the kitchen towel; "but he's had the best kind o' luckthis time. "

"He caught a team of runaway horses this morning, too, " said Mary, looking proudly at the fish. "I wish I could do something worthtalking about, but I'm only a girl. "

Jack's clothes had not suffered much from their ducking, mainly becausethe checked shirt and linen trousers, of which his suit consisted, hadbeen frequently soaked before. His straw hat was dry, for it had beenlying on the grass when he went into the water, and so were his shoesand stockings, which had been under the bed in his bedroom, waiting forSunday. 

It was not until the family was gathered at the table that Jack cameout with the whole tremendous story of his afternoon's sport, and ofits cash results. 

"Now I've learned all about fly-fishing, " he said, with confidence, "Ican catch fish anywhere. I sha'n't have to go to fish out of that oldmill-pond again. "

"Six dollars!" exclaimed his mother, from behind the tea-pot. "Whatawful extravagance there is in this wicked world! But what'll you dowith six dollars?"

"It's high time he began to earn something, " said the tall blacksmith, gloomily. "It's hard times in Crofield. There's almost nothing forhim to do here. "

"That's why I'm going somewhere else, " said Jack, with a sudden burstof energy, and showing a very red face. "Now I've got some money topay my way, I'm going to New York. "

"No, you're not, " said his father, and then there was a silence for amoment. 

"What on earth could you do in New York?" said his mother, staring athim as if he had said something dreadful. She was not a small woman, but she had an air of trying to be larger, and her face quickly beganto recover its ordinary smile of self-confident hope, so much like thatof Jack. She added, before anybody else could speak: "There arethousands and thousands of folks there already. Well--I suppose youcould get along there, if they can. "

"It's too full, " said her husband. "It's fuller'n Crofield. Hecouldn't do anything in a city. Besides, it isn't any use; he couldn'tget there, or anywhere near there, on six dollars. "

"If he only could go somewhere, and do something, and be somebody, "said Mary, staring hard at her plate. 

She had echoed Jack's thought, perfectly. "That's you, Molly, " hesaid, "and I'm going to do it, too. "

"You're going to work a-haying, all next week, I guess, " said hisfather, "if there's anybody wants ye. All the money you earn you cangive to your mother. You ain't going a-fishing again, right away. Nobody ever caught the same fish twice. "

Slowly, glumly, but promptly, Jack handed over his two greenbacks tohis mother, but he only remarked:

"If I work for anybody 'round here, they'll want me to take my pay inhay. They won't pay cash. "

"Hay's just as good, " said his father; and then he changed the subjectand told his wife how the miller had again urged him to trade for thestrip of land along the creek, above and below the bridge. "It comesright up to the line of my lot, " he said, "and to Hawkins's fence. Thewhole of it isn't worth as much as mine is, but I don't see what hewants to trade for. "

She agreed with him, and so did Aunt Melinda; but Jack and Maryfinished their suppers and went out to the front door. She stood stillfor a moment, with her hands clasped behind her, looking across thestreet, as if she were reading the sign on the shop. The discontented, despondent expression on her face made her more and more like a veryyoung and pretty copy of her father. 

"I don't care, Molly, " said Jack. "If they take away every cent I get, I'm going to the city, some time. "

"I'd go, too, if I were a boy, " she said. "I've got to stay at homeand wash dishes and sweep. You can go right out and make your fortune. I've read of lots of boys that went away from home and worked their wayup. Some of 'em got to be Presidents. "

"Some girls amount to something, too, " said Jack. "You've been throughthe Academy. I had to stop, when I was twelve, and go to work in astore. Been in every store in Crofield. They didn't pay me a cent incash, but I learned the grocery business, and the dry-goods business, and all about crockery. That was something. I could keep a store. Some of the stores in New York 'd hold all the stores in Crofield. "

"Some of 'em are owned and run by women, too, " said Mary; "but there'sno use of my thinking of any such thing. "

Before he could tell her what he thought about it, her mother calledher in, and then he, too, stood still and seemed to study the sign overthe door of the blacksmith-shop. 

"I'll do it!" he exclaimed at last, shaking his fist at the sign. "Itisn't the end of July yet, and I'm going to get to the city beforeChristmas; you see 'f I don't. "

After Mary Ogden left him and went in, Jack walked down to the bridge. It seemed as if the Cocahutchie had a special attraction for him, nowthat he knew what might be in it. 

There were three boys leaning over the rail on the lower side of thebridge, and four on the upper side, and all were fishing. Jack did notknow, and they did not tell him, that all their hooks were baited with"flies" of one kind or another instead of worms. Two had grasshoppers, and one had a big bumblebee, and they were after such trout as JackOgden had caught and been paid so much money for. One told anotherthat Jack had five dollars apiece for those fish, and that even thebullheads were so heavy it tired him to carry them home. 

Jack did not go upon the bridge. He strolled down along the water'sedge. 

[Illustration: _Along the Water's Edge_. ]

"It's all sand and gravel, " he said; "but I'd hate to leave it. "

It was curious, but not until that very moment had he been at all awareof any real affection for Crofield. He was only dimly aware of itthen, and he forgot it all to answer a hail from two men under theclump of giant trees which had so nearly wrecked the miller's wagon. 

The men had been looking up at the trees, and Jack heard part of whatthey said about them, as he came near. They had called him to talkabout his trout-fishing, but they had aroused his curiosity uponanother subject. 

"Mr. Bannerman, " he said, as soon as he had an opportunity between"fish" questions, "did you say you'd give a hundred dollars for thosetrees, just as they stand? What are they good for?"

"Jack, " exclaimed the sharp-looking man he spoke to, "don't you tellanybody I said that. You won't, will you? Come, now, didn't I treatyou well while you were in my shop?"

"Yes, you did, " said Jack, "but you kept me there only four months. What are those trees good for? You don't use anything but pine. "

"Why, Jack, " said Bannerman, "it isn't for carpenter work. Three of'em are curly maples, and that one there's the straightest-grained, biggest, cleanest old cherry! They're for j'iner-work, Jack. But yousaid you wouldn't tell?"

"I won't tell, " said Jack. "Old Hammond owns 'em. I stayed in yourshop just long enough to learn the carpenter's trade. I didn't learnj'iner-work. Don't you want me again?"

"Not just now, Jack; but Sam and I've got a bargain coming withHammond, and he owes us some, now, and you mustn't put in and spile thetrade for us. I'll do ye a good turn, some day. Don't you tell. "

Jack promised again and the carpenters walked away, leaving him lookingup at the trees and thinking how it would seem to see them topple overand come crashing down into the Cocahutchie, to be made up into chairsand tables. Just as long as he could remember anything he had seen theold trees standing guard there, summer and winter, leafy or bare, andthey were like old friends to him. 

"I'll go home, " he said, at last. "There hasn't been a house built inCrofield for years and years. It isn't any kind of place forcarpentering, or for anything else that I know how to do. "

Then he took a long, silent, thoughtful look up stream, and anotherdown stream, and instead of the gravel and bushes and grass, in onedirection, and the rickety bridge and the slippery dam and the dingyold red mill, in the other direction, he seemed to see a vision ofgreat buildings and streets and crowds of busy men, while the swishingripple of the Cocahutchie changed into the rush and roar of the greatcity he was setting his heart upon. He gave it up for that evening, and went home and went to bed, but even then it seemed to him as if hewere about to let go of something and take hold of something else. 

"I've done that often enough, " he said to himself. "I'll have to leavethe blacksmith's trade now, but I'm kind o' glad I learned it. I'mglad I didn't have my shoes on when I went into the water, though. Soaking isn't good for that kind of shoes. Don't I know? I've workedin every shoe-shop in Crofield, some. Didn't get any pay, except inshoes; but then I learned the trade, and that's something. I never hadan opportunity to stay long in any one place, but I could stay in thecity. "

Then another kind of dreaming set in, and the next thing he knew it wasSunday morning, with a promise of a sunny, sultry, sleepy kind of day. 

It was not easy for the Ogden family to shut out all talk aboutfishing, while they were eating Jack's fish for breakfast, but theyavoided the subject until Jack went to dress. Jack was quite anotherboy by the time he was ready for church. He was skillful with theshoe-brush, and from his shoes upward he was a surprise. 

"You do look well, " said Mary, as he and she were on their way tochurch. "But how you did look when you came home last night!"

There was little opportunity for conversation, for the walk before theOgden family from their gate to the church-door was not long. 

The little processions toward the village green did not divide fairlyafter reaching there that morning. The larger part of each aimeditself at the middle of the green, although the building there was nolarger than either of the two that stood at its right and left. 

"Everybody's coming to hear Elder Holloway, " said Jack. "They say ittakes a fellow a good while to learn how to preach. "

Mrs. Ogden and Aunt Melinda led their part of the procession, and Jackand his father followed them in. There were ten Ogdens, and the familypew held six. Just as they were going in, some one asked Mary to gointo the choir. Little Sally nestled in her mother's lap; Bob and Jimwere small and thin and only counted for one; Bessie and Sue went in, and so did their father, and then Jack remarked:

"I'm crowded out, father. I'll find a place, somewhere. "

"There isn't any, " said the blacksmith. "Every place is full. "

He shook his head until the points of his Sunday collar scratched him, but off went Jack, and that was the last that was seen of him untilthey were all at home again. 

Mary Ogden had her reasons for not expecting to sing in the choir thatday, but she went when sent for. The gallery was what Jack called a"coop, " and would hold just eighteen persons, squeezed in. Usually itwas only half full, but on a great day, what was called the "old choir"was sure to turn out. There were no girls nor boys in the "old choir. "There had been three seats yet to fill when Mary was sent for, but MissGlidden and Miss Roberts and her elder sister from Mertonville came injust then. So, when Mary reached the gallery, Miss Glidden leanedover, smiled, and said very benevolently:

"You will not be needed to-day, Mary Ogden. The choir is filled. "

The organ began to play at that moment, somewhat as if it had lost itstemper. Mr. Simmons, the choir-leader (whenever he could get there), flushed and seemed about to say something. He was the one who had sentfor Mary, and it was said that he had been heard to say that it wouldbe good to have "some music, outside of the organ. " Before he couldspeak, however, Mary was downstairs again. Seats were offered her inseveral of the back pews, and she took one under the gallery. Shemight as well have had a sounding-board behind her, arranged so as tosend her voice right at the pulpit. Perhaps her temper was a littlearoused, and she did not know how very full her voice was when shebegan the first hymn. All were singing, and they could hear the organand the choir, but through, over, and above them all sounded the clear, ringing notes of Mary Ogden's soprano. Elder Holloway, sitting in thepulpit, put up a hand to one ear, as half-deaf men do, and sat upstraight, looking as if he was hearing some good news. He saidafterward that it helped him preach; but then Mary did not know it. When all the services were over, she slipped out into the vestibule towait for the rest. She stood there when Miss Glidden came downstairs. The portly lady was trying her best to smile and look sweet. 

"Splendid sermon, Mary Ogden, " said she. "I hope you'll profit by it. I sha'n't ask you to take my class this afternoon. Elder Holloway'sgoing to inspect the school. I'll be glad to have you present, though, as one of my best scholars. "

Mary went home as quickly as she could, and the first remark she madewas to Aunt Melinda. 

"_Her_ class!" she said. "Why she hasn't been there in six weeks. Shehad only four in it when she left, and there's a dozen now. "

The Ogden procession homeward had been longer than when it went tochurch. Jack understood the matter the moment he came into thedining-room, for both extra leaves had been put into theextension-table. 

"There's company, " he said aloud. "You couldn't stretch that table anyfarther, unless you stretched the room. "

"Jack, " said his mother, "you must come afterward. You can help Marywait on the table. "

Jack was as hungry as a young pickerel, but there was no help for it, and he tried to reply cheerfully:

"I'm getting used to being crowded out. I can stand it. "

"Where'd you sit in church?" asked his mother. 

"Out on the stoop, " said Jack, "but I didn't go till after I'd sat infive pews inside. "

"Sorry you missed the sermon, " said his mother. "It was aboutJerusalem. "

"I heard him, " said Jack; "you could hear him halfway across the green. It kept me thinking about the city, all the while. I'm going, somehow. "

Just then the talk was interrupted by the others, who came in from theparlor. 

"I declare, Ogden, " said the editor, "we shall quite fill your table. I'm glad I came, though. I'll print a full report of it all in theMertonville _Eagle_. "

"That's Murdoch, the editor, " said Jack to himself. "That's his paper. Ours was a _Standard_, --but it's bu'sted. "

"There's no room for a newspaper in Crofield, " said the blacksmith. "They tried one, and it lasted six months, and my son worked on it allthe time it ran. "

Mr. Murdoch turned and looked inquisitively at Jack through a huge pairof tortoise-shell-rimmed glasses. 

"That's so, " said Jack; "I learned to set type and helped edit thepaper. Molly and I did all the clipping and most of the writing, oneweek. "

"Did you?" said the editor emphatically. "Then you did well. Iremember there was one strong number. "

"Molly, " said Jack, as soon as they were out in the kitchen, "there'sfive besides our family. They won't leave a thing for us. "

"There's hardly enough for them, even, " said Mary. "What'll we do?"

"We can cook!" said Jack, with energy. "We'll cook while they'reeating. You know how, and so do I. "

"You can wait on table as well as I can, " said Mary. 

There was something cronyish and also self-helpful, in the way Jack andMolly boiled eggs and toasted bread and fried bacon and made coffee, and took swift turns at eating and at waiting on the table. 

The editor of the _Eagle_ heard the whole of the trout item, and aboutthe runaway, and told Jack to send him the next big trout he caught. 

There was another item of news that was soon to be ready for Mr. Murdoch. Jack was conscious of a restless, excited state of mind, andMary said things that made him worse. 

"You want to get somewhere else as badly as I do, " he remarked, just asthey came back from taking in the pies to the dinner-table. 

"I feel, sometimes, as if I could fly!" exclaimed Mary. Jack walkedout through the hall to the front door, and stood there thinking, witha hard-boiled egg in one hand and a piece of toast in the other. 

The street he looked into was silent and deserted, from the bridge tothe hotel corner. He looked down to the creek, for a moment, and thenhe looked the other way. 

"I believe Molly could do 'most anything I could do, " he said tohimself; "unless it was catching a runaway team. She couldn't ha'caught that wagon. Hullo, what's that? Jingo! The hotel cook musthave made a regular bonfire to fry my trout!"

He wheeled as he spoke, and dashed back through the house, shouting:

"Father, the Washington Hotel's on fire!--over the kitchen!"

"Ladder, Jack. Rope. Bucket, " cried the tall blacksmith, coollyrising from the table, and following. As for the rest, beginning withthe editor of the _Eagle_, it was almost as if they had been told thatthey were themselves on fire. Even Aunt Melinda exclaimed: "He oughtto have told us more about it! Where is it? How'd it ever catch? Oh, dear me! It's the oldest part of the hotel. It's as dry as a bone, and it'll burn like tinder!"

Everybody else was saying something as all jumped and ran, but Jack andhis father were silent. Ladder, rope, water-pails, were caught up, asif they were going to work in the shop, but the moment they were in thestreet again it seemed as if John Ogden's lungs must be as deep as thebellows of his forge. 

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" His full, resonant voice sent out the suddenwarning. 

[Illustration: _Fighting the Fire_. ]

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" shouted Jack, and every child of the Ogdenfamily, except Mary, echoed with such voice as belonged to each. 

Through the wide gate of the hotel barn-yard dashed the blacksmith andhis son, with their ladder, at the moment when Mrs. Livermore came outat the kitchen door, wiping a plate. All the other inmates of thehotel were gathered around the long table in the dining-hall, and theywere too busy with pie and different kinds of pudding, to noticeanything outdoors. 

"Where is the fire, Mr. Ogden?" she said, in a fatigued tone. 

"The fire's on your roof, close to the chimney, " said the blacksmith. "May be we can put it out, if we're quick about it. Call everybody tohand up water. "

Up went a pair of hands, and out came a great scream. Another shrillscream and another, followed in quick succession, and the plate she hadheld, fell and was shivered into fragments on the stone door-step. 

"Foi-re! Foi-re! Foi-re-re-re!" yelled the hotel cook. "The house isa-bur-rnin'! Wa-ter! Waw-aw-ter!"

The doors to passage-ways of the hotel were open, and in a second moreher cry was taken up by voices that sent the substance of it ringingthrough the dining-hall. 

Plates fell from the hands of waiters, coffee-cups were upset, chairswere overturned, all manner of voices caught up the alarm. 

It would have been a very serious matter but for the promptness of JackOgden and his very cool father. The ladder was planted and climbed, there was a quick dash along the low but high-ridged roof of thekitchen addition of the hotel, --the rope was put around Jack's waist, and then he was able safely to use both hands in pouring water from thepails around the foot of the chimney. Other feet came fast to the footof the ladder. More went tramping into the rooms under the roof. Thepumps in the kitchen and in the barn-yard were worked with franticenergy; pail after pail was carried upstairs and up the ladder; waterwas thrown in all directions; nothing was left undone that could bedone, and a great many things were done that seemed hardly possible. 

"Hot work, Jack, " said his father. "It's a-gaining on us. Glad they'dall about got through dinner, --though Livermore tells me he's insured. "

"I can stand it, " said Jack. "They have steam fire-engines in thecity, though. Oh, but wouldn't I like to see one at work, once. I'dlike to be a fireman!"

"That's about what you are, just now, " said his father, and then heturned toward the ladder and shouted:

"Hurry up that water! Quick, now! Bring an axe! I want to smash theroof in. Bear it, Jack. We've got to beat this fire. "

The main building of the Washington Hotel was long, rather than high, with an open veranda along Main Street. The third story was mainlysteep roof and dormer-windows, and the kitchen addition had only astory and a half. It was an easy building to get into or out of. Veryquickly, after the cry of "Fire!" was heard, the only people in it, upstairs, were such of the guests as had the pluck to go and pack theirtrunks. The lower floor was very well crowded, and it was almost arelief to the men actually at work as firemen that so many other menkept well back because they were in their "Sunday-go-to-meeting"clothes. 

Everybody was inclined to praise Jack Ogden and his father, who weremaking so brave a fight on the roof within only a few feet of the smokeand blaze. It was heroic to look a burning house straight in the faceand conquer it. During fully half an hour there seemed to be doubtabout the victory, but the pails of water came up rapidly, a line ofmen and boys along the roof conveyed them to the hands of Jack, and thefire had a damp time of it, with no wind to help. The blacksmith hadchopped a hole in the roof, and Tom and Sam Bannerman, the carpenters, were already calculating what they would charge old Livermore to putthe addition in order again. 

"There, Jack, " said his father, at last, "we can quit, now. The fire'sunder. Somebody else can take a turn. It's the hottest kind of work. Come along. We've done our share, and a little more, too. "

Jack had just swallowed a puff of smoke, but as soon as he could stopcoughing, he said:

"I've had enough. I'm coming. "

Other people seemed to agree with them; but there would have been lesssaid about it if little Joe Hawkins had not called out:

"Three cheers for the Ogdens!"

The cheers were given as the two volunteer firemen came down theladder, but there were no speeches made in reply. Jack hurried backhome at once, but his father had to stop and talk with the Bannermansand old Hammond, the miller. 

"Jack, " said his mother, looking at him, proudly, from head to foot, "you're always doing something or other. We were looking at you, allthe while. "

"He hasn't hurt his Sunday clothes a bit, " said Aunt Melinda, but therewas quite a crowd around the gate, and she did not hug him. 

He was a little damp, his face was smoky, his shirt-collar was wilted, and his shoes would require a little work, but otherwise he was nonethe worse. 

Jack went into the house, saying that he must brush his clothes; but, really it was because he wished to get away. He did not care to talkto anybody. 

"I never felt so, in all my life, as I did when sitting on that roof, fighting that fire, " he said aloud, as he went upstairs; and he did notknow, even then, how excited he had been, silent and cool as he hadseemed. In that short time, he had dreamed of more cities than he wasever likely to see, and of doing more great things than he could everpossibly do, and when he came down the ladder he felt older than whenhe went up. He had no idea that much the same thoughts had come toMary, nor did he know how fully she believed that he could do anything, and that she was as capable as he. 

"Father's splendid, too, " she said, "but then he never had any chance, here, and Mother didn't either. Jack ought to have a chance. "

CHAPTER IV. 

CAPTAIN MARY. 

Mr. Murdoch had stood on the main street corner; taking notes for the_Eagle_, but now he came back to say the fire was out and it was nearlytime for Sunday-school. 

It seemed strange to have Sunday-school just after a fire, but theOgden family and its visitors at once made ready. 

It was a quarterly meeting, with general exercises and singing, and areview of the quarter's lessons. The church was full by the hour foropening, and the school had a very prosperous look. Elder Holloway andMr. Murdoch and two other important men sat in the pulpit, and JoabSpokes, the superintendent, stood in front of them to conduct theexercises. The elder seemed to be glancing benevolently around theroom, through his spectacles, but there were some things there whichcould be seen without glasses, and he must have seen those also. 

Miss Glidden looked particularly well and very stately, as she sat inthe pew in front of her class (if it were hers), with Mary Ogden. Herfirst words, on coming in to take command, had been:

"Mary, dear, don't go. I really wish you to stay. You may be ofassistance. "

Mary flushed a little, but she said nothing in reply. She remained, and she certainly did assist, for the girls looked at her almost allthe while, and Miss Glidden had no trouble whatever, and nothing to dobut to look pleased and beaming and dignified. The elder, it wasnoticed, seemed to feel special interest in the part taken in theexercises by the class with two teachers, one for show and one forwork. He even seemed to see something comical in the situation, andthere was positive admiration in a remark he made to Mr. Murdoch:

"She's a true teacher. There's really only one teacher to that class. She must have been born with a knack for it!"

Elder Holloway, with all his years and experience, had not understoodthe case of Miss Glidden's class more perfectly than had one youngobserver at the other end of the church. Jack Ogden could not see sowell as those great men in the pulpit, but then he could hear much andsurmise the rest. 

"All those girls will stand by Molly!" he said to himself. "I hope itwon't be long before school's dismissed, " he added. 

He had reasons for this hope. He was a little late through lingeringto take a curious look at what was left of the fire. The street had alittered look. The barns and stables were wide open, and deserted, forthe horses had been led to places of safety. There seemed to be animpression that the hotel was half destroyed; but the damage had notbeen very great. 

A faint, thin film of blue was eddying along the ridgepole of thekitchen addition. Jack noticed it, but did not know what it meant. Amore practiced observer would have known that, hidden from sight, buried in the punk of the dry-rotted timber, was a vicious spark offire, stealthily eating its way through the punk of the resinous pine. 

Jack paid little attention to the tiny smoke-wreath, but he wascompelled to pay some attention to the weather. It had been hot fromsunrise until noon, and the air had grown heavier since. 

"I know what that haze means, " said Jack to himself, as he lookedtoward the Cocahutchie. "There's a thunderstorm coming by and by, andnobody knows just when. I'll be on the lookout for it. "

For this reason he was glad that he was compelled to find a seat notfar from the door of the church. Twice he went out to look at the sky, and the second time he saw banks of lead-colored clouds forming on thenorthwestern horizon. Returning he said to several of the boys nearthe vestibule:

"You've just time to get home, if you don't want a ducking. "

Each boy passed along the warning; and when the school stood up to singthe last hymn, even the girls and the older people knew of the comingstorm. There was a brief silence before the first note of the organ, and through that silence nearly everybody could catch the shrill squeakin which little Joe Hawkins tried to speak very low and secretly. 

"Deakin Cobb, we want to git aout! We've just time to git home if wedon't want a duckin'. "

The hymn started raggedly and in a wrong pitch; and just then the greatroom grew suddenly darker, and there was a low rumble of thunder. 

"Mary Ogden!" exclaimed Miss Glidden, "what are you doing? They can'tgo yet!"

Mary was singing as loudly and correctly as usual, but she was out inthe aisle, and the girls of that class were promptly obeying the motionof hand and head with which she summoned them to walk out of the church. 

Elder Holloway may have been only keeping time when he nodded his head, but he was looking at Miss Glidden's class. 

So was Miss Glidden, in a bewildered way, as if she, like littleBo-peep, were losing her sheep. Mary was following a strong and suddenimpulse. Nevertheless, by the time that class was out of its pews thenext caught the idea, and believed it a prudent thing to do. Theyfollowed in good order, singing as they went. 

"The girls out first, --then the boys, " said Elder Holloway, between twostanzas. "One class at a time. No hurry. "

Darker grew the air. Jack, out in front of the church, was watchingthe blackest cloud he had ever seen, as it came sweeping across the sky. 

The people walked out calmly enough, but all stopped singing at thedoor and ran their best. 

"Run, Molly! Run for home!" shouted Jack, seeing Mary coming. "It'sgoing to be an awful storm. "

[Illustration: _"Run for Home. "_]

Inside the church there was much hesitation, for a moment; but MissGlidden followed her class without delay, and all the rest followed asfast as they could, and were out in half the usual time. Joe Hawkinsheard Jack's words to Molly. 

"Run, boys, " he echoed. "Cut for home! There's a fearful stormcoming!"

He was right. Great drops were already falling now and then, and therewas promise of a torrent to follow. 

"I don't want to spoil these clothes, " said Jack, uneasily. "I needthese to wear in the city. The storm isn't here yet, though. I'llwait a minute. " He was holding his hat on and looking up at thesteeple when he said that. It was a very old, wooden steeple, tall, slender, and somewhat rheumatic, and he knew there must be more wind upso high than there was nearer the ground. "It's swinging!" he saidsuddenly. "I can see it bend! Glad they're all getting out. Therecome Elder Holloway and Mr. Murdoch. See the elder run! I hope hewon't try to get to Hawkins's. He'd better run for our house. "

That was precisely the counsel given the good man by the editor, andthe elder said:

"I'd like to go there. I'd like to see that clever girl again. Come, Murdoch; no time to lose!"

The blast was now coming lower, and the gloom was deepening. 

Flash--rattle--boom--crash! came a glitter of lightning and a greatpeal of thunder. 

"Here it is!" cried Jack. "If it isn't a dry blast!"

It was something like the first hot breath of a hurricane. To and froswung the tottering old steeple for a moment, and then there wasanother crash--a loud, grinding, splintering, roaring crash--as thespire reeled heavily down, lengthwise, through the shattered roof ofthe meeting-house! Except for Mary Ogden's cleverness, the ruins mighthave fallen upon the crowded Sunday-school. Jack turned and ran forhome. He was a good runner, but he only just escaped the delugefollowing that thunderbolt. 

Jack turned upon reaching the house, and as he looked back he uttered aloud exclamation, and out from the house rushed all the people who weregathered there. 

"Jingo!" Jack shouted. "The old hotel's gone, sure, this time!"

The burrowing spark had smoldered slowly along, until it felt the firstfanning of the rising gale. In another minute it flared as if under ablowpipe, and soon a fierce sheet of flame came bursting through theroof. 

Down poured the rain; but the hottest of that blaze was roofed over, and the fire had its own way with the empty addition. 

"We couldn't help if we should try, " exclaimed Mr. Ogden. 

"I'll put on my old clothes, any way, " said Jack. "Nobody knows what'scoming. "

"I will, too, " said his father. 

Jack paused a moment, and said, from the foot of the stairs:

"The steeple's down, --right through the meeting-house. It has smashedthe whole church!"

The sight of the fire had made him withhold that news for a minute; butnow, for another minute, the fire was almost forgotten. 

Elder Holloway began to say something in praise of Mary Ogden about herleading out the class, but she darted away. 

"Let me get by, Jack, " she said. "Let me pass, please. They all wouldhave been killed if they had waited! But I was thinking only of myclass and the rain. "

She ran up-stairs and Jack followed. Then the elder made a number ofimproving remarks about discipline and presence of mind, and thenatural fitness of some people for doing the right thing in anemergency. He might have said more, but all were drawn to the windowsto watch the strife between the fire and the rain. 

The fierce wind drove the smoke through the building, compelling thelandlord and his wife to escape as best they could, and, for the timebeing, the victory seemed to be with the fire. 

"Seems to me, " said the blacksmith, somberly, "as if Crofield was goingto pieces. This is the worst storm we ever had. The meeting-house isgone, and the hotel's going!"

Mary, at her window, was looking out in silence, but her face wasbright rather than gloomy. Even if she was "only a girl, " she hadfound an opportunity for once, and she had not proved unequal to it. 

CHAPTER V. 

JACK OGDEN'S RIDE. 

Jack needed only a few minutes to put on the suit he had worn whenfishing. 

"There, now, " he said; "if there's going to be a big flood in the creekI'm going down to see it, rain or no rain. There's no telling how highit'll rise if this pour keeps on long enough. It rattles on the rooflike buckshot!"

"That's the end of the old tavern, " said Jack to Mary, as he stood inthe front room looking out. 

He was barefooted, and had come so silently that she was startled. 

"Jack!" she exclaimed, turning around, "they might have all been killedwhen the steeple came down. I heard what Joe Hawkins said, and I ledout the class. "

"Good for Joe!" said Jack. "We need a new meeting-house, any way. Iheard the elder say so. Less steeple, next time, and more church!"

"I'd like to see a real big church, " said Mary, --"a city church. "

"You'd like to go to the city as much as I would, " said Jack. 

"Yes, I would, " she replied emphatically. "Just you get there and I'llcome afterward, if I can. I've been studying twice as hard since Ileft the academy, but I don't know why. "

"I know it, " said Jack; "but I've had no time for books. "

"Jack! Molly!" the voice of Aunt Melinda came up the stairway. "Areyou ever coming down-stairs?"

"What will the elder say to my coming down barefoot?" said Jack; "but Idon't want shoes if I'm going out into the mud. "

"He won't care at such a time as this, " said Mary. "Let's go. "

It was not yet supper-time, but it was almost dark enough to light thelamps. Jack felt better satisfied about his appearance when he foundhow dark and shadowy the parlor was; and he felt still better when hesaw his father dressed as if he were going over to work at the forge, all but the leather apron. 

The elder did not seem disturbed. He and Mr. Murdoch were talkingabout all sorts of great disasters, and Mary did not know just when shewas drawn into the talk, or how she came to acknowledge having readabout so many different things all over the world. 

"Jack, " whispered his mother, at last, "you'll have to go to the barnand gather eggs, or we sha'n't have enough for supper. "

"I'll bring the eggs if I don't get drowned before I get back, " saidJack; and he found a basket and an umbrella and set out. 

He took advantage of a little lull in the rain, and ran to thebarn-yard gate. 

"Hullo!" he exclaimed. "Now I'll have to wade. Why it's nearly a footdeep! There'll be the biggest kind of a freshet in the Cocahutchie. Isn't this jolly?"

The rain pattered on the roof as if it had been the head of a drum. Ifthe house was gloomy, the old barn was darker and gloomier. Jackturned over a half-bushel measure and sat down on it. 

"I want to think, " he said. "I want to get out of this. Seems to me Inever felt it so before. I'd as lief live in this barn as stay inCrofield. "

He suddenly sprang up and shook off his blues, exclaiming: "I'll go andsee the freshet, anyhow!"

He carried the eggs into the house. 

All the time he had been gone, Elder Holloway had been asking Mary veryparticularly about the Crofield Academy. 

"I don't wonder she says what she does about the trustees, " remarkedAunt Melinda. "She took the primary room twice, for 'most a month eachtime, when the teacher was sick, and all the thanks she had was thatthey didn't like it when they found it out. "

The gutter in front of the house had now become a small torrent. 

"All the other gutters are just like that, " said Jack. "So are thebrooks all over the country, and it all runs into the Cocahutchie!"

"Father, " said Jack, after supper, "I'm going down to the creek. "

"I wish you would, " said his father. "Come back and tell us how it'slooking. "

"Could a freshet here do any damage?" asked Mr. Murdoch. 

"There's a big dam up at Four Corners, " said the blacksmith. "Ifanything should happen there, we'd have trouble here, and you'd have itin Mertonville, too. "

Jack heard that as he was going out of the door. He carried anumbrella; but the first thing he noticed was that the force of the rainseemed to have slackened as soon as he was out of doors. It was nowmore like mist or a warm sleet, as if Crofield were drifting through acloud. 

"The Washington House needs all the rain it can get, " said Jack, as hewent along; "but half the roof is caved in. I'm glad Livermore'sinsured. "

When Jack reached the creek he felt his heart fairly jump withexcitement. The Cocahutchie was no longer a thin ribbon rippling alongin a wide stretch of sand and gravel. It was a turbid, swollen, roaring flood, already filling all the space under its bridge; and theclump of old trees was in the water instead of on dry land. 

"Hurrah!" shouted Jack. "As high as that already, and the worst is tocome!"

He could not see the dam at first, but the gusts of wind were makingopenings in the mist, and he soon caught glimpses of a great sheet offoaming brown water. 

"I'll go and take a look at the dam, " he said; and he ran to the mill. 

"It's just level with the dam, " he said, after one swift glance. "Inever thought of that. I must go and tell old Hammond what's coming. "

The miller's house was not far away, and he and his family were atsupper when there came a bang at the door. Then it opened and Mrs. Hammond exclaimed:

"Why, John Ogden!"

"I'm out o' breath, " said Jack excitedly. "You tell him that thewater's 'most up to the lower floor of the mill. If he's got anythingthere that'd be hurt by getting wet--"

"Goodness, yes!" shouted the miller, getting up from the table, "enoughto ruin me. There are sacks of flour, meal, grain, --all sorts ofstuff. It must all go up to the second floor. I'll call all thehands. "

"But, " said his wife, "it's Sunday!"

"Can't help it!" he exclaimed; "the Cocahutchie's coming right up intothe mill. Jack, tell every man you see that I want him!"

Off went Jack homeward, but he spoke to half a dozen men on the way. He did not run, but he went quickly enough; and when he reached thehouse there was something waiting for him. 

It was a horse with a blanket strapped on instead of a saddle; and byit stood his father, and near him stood his mother and Aunt Melinda andMary, bareheaded, for it was not raining, now. 

"Mount, Jack, " said the blacksmith quietly. "I've seen the creek. It's only four and a half miles to the Four Corners. Ride fast. Seehow that dam looks and come back and tell me. Mr. Murdoch will havehis buggy ready to start when you get back. See how many logs thereare in the saw-mill boom. "

"Oh, Jack!" exclaimed Mary, in a low suppressed voice. "I wish that Iwere you! It's a great day for you!"

He had sprung to the saddle while his father was speaking, and he feltit was out of his power to utter a word in reply. He did not need tospeak to the horse, for the moment Mr. Ogden released the bit there wasa quick bound forward. 

"This horse is ready to go, " said Jack to himself, as he felt thatmotion. "I've seen her before. I wonder what's made her so excited?"

There was no need for wonder. The trim, light-limbed sorrel mare hewas riding had been kept in the hotel stables until that day. She hadbeen taken out to a neighboring stable, at the morning alarm of fire, and when the blacksmith went to borrow her he found her laboring undera strong impression that things in Crofield were going wrong. She wastherefore inclined to go fast, and all that Jack had to do was to holdher in. The blacksmith's son was at home in the saddle. It was notyet dark, and he knew the road to the Four Corners. It was a muddyroad, and there was a little stream of water along each side of it. Spattered and splashed from head to foot were rider and horse, but themiles vanished rapidly and the Four Corners was reached. 

A smaller village than Crofield, further up among the hills, it had ahigher dam, a three times larger pond, a bigger grist-mill, and a largesaw-mill. That was because there were forests of timbers among the yethigher hills beyond, and Mr. Ogden had been thinking seriously aboutthe logs from those forests. 

"I know what father means, " said Jack aloud, as he galloped into thevillage. 

There were hardly any people stirring about its one long street; butthere was a reason for that and Jack found out what it was when hepulled up near the mill. 

"Everybody has come to watch the dam, " he exclaimed. "No use askingabout the logs, though; there they are. "

The crowd was evidently excited, and the air was filled with shouts andanswers. 

"The boom got unhitched and swung round 'cross the dam, " said one eagerspeaker; "and there's all the logs, now, --hundreds on 'em, --justa-pilin' up and a-heapin' up on the dam; and when that breaks, thedam'll go, mill and all, bridge and all, and the valley below'll beflooded!"

The moon was up, and the clouds which had hidden it were breaking awayas Jack looked at the threatening spectacle before him. 

The sorrel mare was tugging hard at the rein and pawing the mud underher feet, while Jack listened to the talk. 

"Stand it? No!" he heard a man say. "That dam wasn't built to standany such crowdin' as that. Hark!"

A groaning, straining, cracking sound came from the barrier behindwhich the foaming flood was widening and deepening the pond. 

"There it goes! It's breaking!"

Jack wheeled the sorrel, as a dull, thunderous report was answered by agreat cry from the crowd; and then he dashed away down the homewardroad. 

"I must get to Crofield before the water does, " he said. "Glad thecreek's so crooked; it has twice as far to travel as I have. "

Not quite, considering how a flood will sweep over a bend instead offollowing it. Still, Jack and the sorrel had the start, and nearly allthe way it was a downhill road. 

The Crofield people gathered fast, after the sky cleared, for a rumorwent around that there was something wrong with the dam, and that a manhad gone to the Four Comers to warn the people there. 

All the men that could crowd into the mill had helped Mr. Hammond gethis grain up into the second story, but the water was a hand-breadthdeep on the lower floor by the time it was done. 

There came a moment when all was silent except the roar of the water, and through that silence the thud of hoofs was heard coming down fromMain Street. Then a shrill, excited voice shouted:

"All of you get off that bridge! The Four Corners dam's gone. Theboom's broken, and the logs are coming!"

There was a tumult of questioning, as men gathered around the sorrel, and there was a swift clearing of people from the bridge. 

"Why, it's shaking now!" said the blacksmith to Mr. Murdoch. "It'll godown with the first log that strikes it. You drive your best home toMertonville and warn them. You may be just in time. "

Away went the editor, carrying with him an extraordinary treasure ofnews for the next number of his journal. Jack dismounted, and herowner took the sorrel to her stable; she was very muddy but none theworse for the service she had rendered. 

The crowd stood waiting for what was sure to come. Miller Hammond wasanxiously watching his threatened and already damaged property. Jackcame and stood beside him. 

"Mr. Hammond, " he said, "all the gravel that you were going to sell tofather is lying under water. "

"More than two acres of it, " said the miller. "The water'll run off, though. I'll tell you what I'll do, Jack. I'll sell it for twohundred dollars, considering the flood. "

"If father'll take it, will you count in the fifty you said you owedme?" inquired Jack. 

The miller made a wry face for a moment, but then responded, smiling:

"Well! After what you've done to-night, too: saved all there was onthe first floor, --yes, I will. Tell him I'll do it. "

They all turned suddenly toward the dam. A high ridge of water wassweeping down across the pond. It carried a crest of foam, logs, planks, and rubbish, shining white in the moonlight, and it rolled ontoward the mill and the dam as if it had an errand. 

Crash--roar--crash--and a plunging sound, --and it seemed as if theCrofield dam had vanished. But it had not. Only a section of its topwork, in the middle, had been knocked away by the rushing stroke ofthose logs. 

A frightened shout went up from the spectators, and it had hardly diedaway before there followed another splintering crash. 

"The bridge!" shouted Jack. 

The frail supports of the bridge, brittle with age and weather, alreadystraining hard against the furious water, needed only the battering ofthe first heavy logs from the boom, and down they went. 

"Gone!" exclaimed Mr. Ogden. "The hotel's gone, and the meeting-house, and the dam, and the bridge. There won't be anything left of Crofield, at this rate. "

"I'm going to get out of it, " said Jack. 

"I'll never refuse you again, " replied his father, with energy. "Youmay get out any way you can, and take your chances anywhere you please. I won't stand in your way. "

The roar of the surging Cocahutchie was the only sound heard for a fullminute, and then the miller spoke. 

"The mill's safe, " he said, with a very long breath of relief; "thebreaking of that hole in the dam let the water and logs through, andthe pond isn't rising. Hurrah!"

There was a very faint and scattering cheer, and Jack Ogden did notjoin in it. He had turned suddenly and walked away homeward, along thenarrow strip of land that remained between the wide, swollenCocahutchie and the fence. 

At the end of the fence, where he came into his own street, away abovewhere the head of the bridge had been, there was a large gathering. That around the mill had been nearly all of men and boys. Here werewomen and girls, and the smaller boys, whose mothers and aunts heldthem and kept them from going nearer the water. Jack found it of nouse to say, "Oh, mother, I'm too muddy!" She didn't care how muddy hewas, and Aunt Melinda cared even less, apparently. Bessie and Sue hadevidently been crying; but Mary had not; and it was her hand on Jack'sarm that led him away, up the street, toward their gate. 

"Oh, Jack!" she exclaimed, "I'm so proud! Did you ride fast? I'm gladI can ride! I could have done it, too. It was splendid!"

"Molly, " said Jack, "I don't mind telling you. The sorrel maregalloped all the way, going and coming, up hill and down; and Molly, Ikept wishing and thinking every jump she gave, --wishing I was gallopingto New York, instead of to the Four Corners!

"Molly, " he added quickly, "father gives it up and says I may go!"

CHAPTER VI. 

OUT INTO THE WORLD. 

Monday morning came, bright and sunshiny; and it hardly reachedCrofield before the people began to get up and look about them. 

Jack went down to the river and did not get back very soon. His mindwas full of something besides the flood, and he did not linger long atthe mill. 

But he looked long and hard at all the pieces of land below the mill, down to Deacon Hawkins's line. He knew where that was, although thefence was gone. 

"The freshet didn't wash away a foot of it, " he said. "I'll tellfather what Mr. Hammond said about selling it. "

A pair of well-dressed men drove down from Main Street in a buggy andhalted near him. 

"Brady, " said one of these men, "the engineer is right. We can'tchange the railroad line. We can say to the Crofield people that ifthey'll give us the right of way through the village we'll build them anew bridge. They'll do it. Right here's the spot for the station. "

"Exactly, " said the other man, "and the less we say about it thebetter. Keep mum. "

"That's just what I'll do, too, " said Jack to himself, as they droveaway. "I don't know what they mean, but it'll come out some day. "

Jack went home at once, and found the family at breakfast. Afterbreakfast his father went to the shop, and Jack followed him to speakabout the land purchase. 

When Jack explained the miller's offer, Mr. Ogden went with him to seeMr. Hammond. After a short interview, Mr. Ogden and Jack secured theland in settlement of the amount already promised Jack, and of an olddebt owed by the miller to the blacksmith, and also in consideration oftheir consenting to a previous sale of the trees for cash to theBannermans, who had made their offer that morning. Mr. Hammond seemedvery glad to make the sale upon these terms, as he was in need of readymoney. 

When Jack returned to his father's shop, he remembered the men he hadseen at the river, and he told his father what they had said. 

"Station?--right of way?" exclaimed Mr. Ogden. "That's the newrailroad through Mertonville. They'll use up that land, and we won'tget a cent. Well, it didn't cost anything. I'd about given upcollecting that bill. "

Later that day, Jack came in to dinner with a smile on his face. Itwas the old smile, too; a smile of good-humored self-confidence, whichflickered over his lips from side to side, and twisted them, and shuthis mouth tight. Just as he was about to speak, his father took along, neatly folded paper out of his coat pocket and laid it on thetable. 

"Look at that, Jack, " he said; "and show it to your mother. "

"Warranty deed!" exclaimed Jack, reading the print on the outside. "Father! you didn't turn it over to me, did you? Mother, it's to JohnOgden, Jr. !"

"Oh, John--" she began and stopped. 

"Why, my dear, " laughed the blacksmith, cheerfully, "it's his gravel, not mine. I'll hold it for him, for a while, but it is Jack's wheneverI chose to record that deed. "

"I'm afraid I couldn't farm it there, " said Jack; and then the smile onhis face flickered fast. "But I knew Father wanted that land. "

"It isn't worth much, but it's a beginning, " said Mary. "I'd like toown something or other, or to go somewhere. "

"Well, Molly, " answered Jack, smiling, "you can go to Mertonville. Livermore says there's a team here, horses and open carriage. It cameover on Friday. The driver has cleared out, and somebody must takethem home, and he wants me to drive over. Can't I take Molly, Mother?"

"You'd have to walk back, " said his father, "but that's nothing much. It's less than nine miles--"

"Father, " said Jack, "you said, last night, I needn't come back toCrofield, right away. And Mertonville's nine miles nearer the city--"

"And a good many times nine miles yet to go, " exclaimed the blacksmith;but then he added, smiling: "Go ahead, Jack. I do believe that if anyboy can get there, you can. "

"I'll do it somehow, " said Jack, with a determined nod. 

"Of course you will, " said Mary. 

Jack felt as if circumstances were changing pretty fast, so far as hewas concerned; and so did Mary, for she had about given up all hope ofseeing her friends in Mertonville. 

"We'll get you ready, right away, " said Aunt Melinda. "You can giveJack your traveling bag, --he won't mind the key's being lost, --and I'lllet you take my trunk, and we'll fit you out so you can enjoy it. "

"Jack, " said his father, "tell Livermore you can go, and then I want tosee you at the shop. "

Jack was so glad he could hardly speak; for he felt it was the firststep. But a part of his feeling was that he had never before lovedCrofield and all the people in it, especially his own family, so muchas at that minute. 

He went over to the ruined hotel, where he found the landlord at worksaving all sorts of things and seeming to feel reasonably cheerful overhis misfortunes. 

"Jack, " he said, as soon as he was told that Jack was ready to go, "youand Molly will have company. Miss Glidden sent to know how she couldbest get over to Mertonville, and I said she could go with you. There's a visitor, too, who must go back with her. 

"I'll take 'em, " said Jack. 

Upon going to the shop he found his father shoeing a horse. Theblacksmith beckoned his son to the further end of the shop. He heardabout Miss Glidden, and listened in silence to several hopeful thingsJack had to say about what he meant to do sooner or later. 

[Illustration: _He listened in silence_. ]

"Well, " he said, at last, "I was right not to let you go before, andI've doubts about it now, but something must be done. I'm making lessand less, and not much of it's cash, and it costs more to live, andthey're all growing up. I don't want you to make me any promises. They are broken too easily. You needn't form good resolutions. Theywon't hold water. There's one thing I want you to do, though. Yourmother and I have brought you up as straight as a string, and you knowwhat's right and what's wrong. "

"That's true, " said Jack. 

"Well, then, don't you promise nor form any resolutions, but if you'retempted to do wrong, or to be a fool in any kind of way, just don't doit that's all. "

"I won't, Father, " said Jack earnestly. 

"There, " said his father, "I feel better satisfied than I should feelif you'd promised a hundred things. It's a great deal better not to doanything that you know to be wrong or foolish. "

"I think so, " said Jack, "and I won't. "

"Go home now and get ready, " said his father; "and I'll see you off. "

"This is very sudden, Jack, ", said his mother, with much feeling, whenhe made his appearance. 

"Why, Mother, " said Jack, "Molly'll be back soon, and the city isn't sofar away after all. "

Jack felt as if he had only about enough head left to change hisclothes and drive the team. 

"It's just as Mother says, " he thought; "I've been wishing and hopingfor it, but it's come very suddenly. "

His black traveling-bag was quickly ready. He had closed it and waswalking to the door when his mother came in. 

"Jack, " she said, "you'll send me a postal card every day or two?"

"Of course I will, " said he bravely. 

"And I know you'll be back in a few weeks, at most, " she went on; "butI feel as sad as if you were really going away from home. Why, you'realmost a child! You can't really be going away!"

That was where the talk stopped for a while, except some last wordsthat Jack could never forget. Then she dried her eyes, and he driedhis, and they went down-stairs together. It was hard to say good-by toall the family, and he was glad his father was not there. He got awayfrom them as soon as he could, and went over to the stables after histeam. It was a bay team, with a fine harness, and the open carriagewas almost new. 

"Stylish!" said Jack. "I'll take Molly on the front seat with me, --no, the trunk, --and Miss Glidden's trunk, --well, I'll get 'em all insomehow!"

When he drove up in front of the house his father was there to put thebaggage in and to help Mary into the carriage and to shake hands withJack. 

The blacksmith's grimy face looked less gloomy for a moment. 

"Jack, " he said, "good-by. May be you'll really get to the city afterall. "

"I think I shall, " said Jack, with an effort to speak calmly. 

"Well, " said the blacksmith, slowly, "I hope you will, somehow; butdon't you forget that there's another city. "

Jack knew what he meant. They shook hands, and in another moment thebays were trotting briskly on their way to Miss Glidden's. Her housewas one of the finest in Crofield, with lawn and shrubbery. Mary Ogdenhad never been inside of it, but she had heard that it was beautifullyfurnished. There was Miss Glidden and her friend on the piazza, andout at the sidewalk, by the gate, was a pile of baggage, at the sightof which Jack exclaimed:

"Trunks! They're young houses! How'll I get 'em all in? I can strapand rope one on the back of the carriage, but then--!"

Miss Glidden frowned at first, when the carriage pulled up, but shecame out to the gate, smiling, and so did the other lady. 

"Why, Mary Ogden, my dear, " she said, "Mrs. Potter and I did not knowyou were going with us. It's quite a surprise. "

"So it is to Jack and me, " replied Mary quietly. "We were very glad tohave you come, though, if we can find room for your trunks. "

"I can manage 'em, " said Jack. "Miss Glidden, you and Mrs. Potter getin, and Pat and I'll pack the trunks on somehow. "

Pat was the man who had brought out the luggage, and he was waiting tohelp. He was needed. It was a very full carriage when he and Jackfinished their work. There was room made for the passengers by puttingMary's small trunk down in front, so that Jack's feet sprawled over itfrom the nook where he sat. 

"I can manage the team, " Jack said to himself. "They won't run awaywith this load. "

Mary sat behind him, the other two on the back seat, and all the restof the carriage was trunks; not to speak of what Jack called a "younghouse, " moored behind. 

It all helped Jack to recover his usual composure, nevertheless, and hedrove out of Crofield, on the Mertonville road, confidently. 

"We shall discern traces of the devastation occasioned by the recentinundation, as we progress, " remarked Mrs. Potter. 

Jack replied: "Oh, no! The creek takes a great swoop, below Crofield, and the road's a short cut. There'll be some mud, though. "

He was right and wrong. There was mud that forced the heavily ladencarriage to travel slowly, here and there, but there was nothing seenof the Cocahutchie for several miles. 

"Hullo!" exclaimed Jack suddenly. "It looks like a kind of lake. Itdoesn't come up over the road, though. I wonder what dam has given outnow!"

There was the road, safe enough, but all the country to the right of itseemed to have been turned into water. On rolled the carriage, thehorses now and then allowing signs of fear and distrust, and the twoolder passengers expressing ten times as much. 

"Now, Molly, " said Jack, at last, "there's a bridge across the creek, alittle ahead of this. I'd forgotten about that. Hope it's there yet. "

"Oh, dear me!" exclaimed Miss Glidden. 

"Don't prognosticate disaster, " said Mrs. Potter earnestly; and itoccurred to Jack that he had heard more long words during that drivethan any one boy could hope to remember. 

"Hurrah!" he shouted, a few minutes later. "Link's bridge is there!There's water on both sides of the road, though. "

It was an old bridge, like that at Crofield, and it was narrow, and ittrembled and shook while the snorting bays pranced and shied theirfrightened way across it. They went down the slope on the other sidewith a dash that would have been a bolt if Jack had not been ready forthem. Jack was holding them with a hard pull upon the reins, but hewas also looking up the Cocahutchie. 

"I see what's the matter, " he said. "The logs got stuck in a narrowplace, and made a dam of their own, and set the water back over theflat. The freshet hasn't reached Mertonville yet. Jingo!"

Bang, crack, crash!--came a sharp sound behind him. 

"The bridge is down!" he shouted. "We were only just in time. Some ofthe logs have been carried down, and one of them knocked it endwise. "

That was precisely the truth of the matter; and away went the bays, asif they meant to race with the freshet to see which would first arrivein Mertonville. 

"I'm on my way to the city, any how, " thought Jack, with deepsatisfaction. 

CHAPTER VII. 

MARY AND THE _EAGLE_. 

The bay team traveled well, but it was late in the afternoon when Jackdrove into the town. Having been in Mertonville before, Jack knewwhere to take Miss Glidden and Mrs. Potter. 

Mertonville was a thriving place, calling itself a town, and ambitiousof some day becoming a city. 

Not long after entering the village, Miss Glidden touched Jack's arm. 

"Stop, please!" exclaimed Miss Glidden. "There are our friends. Thevery people we're going to see. Mrs. Edwards and the Judge, and all!"

The party on foot had also halted, and were waiting to greet thevisitors. After welcomes had been exchanged, Mrs. Edwards, a tall, dignified lady, with gray hair, turned to Mary and offered her hand. 

"I'm delighted to see you, Miss Ogden, " she exclaimed, "and yourbrother John. I've heard so much about you both, from Elder Hollowayand the Murdochs. They are expecting you. "

"We're going to the Murdochs', " said Mary, a little embarrassed by thewarmth of the greeting. 

"You will come to see me before you go home?" said Mrs. Edwards. "Idon't wonder Miss Glidden is so fond of you and so proud of you. Makeher come, Miss Glidden. "

"I should be very happy, " said Miss Glidden benevolently, "but Mary hasso many friends. "

"Oh, she'll come, " said the Judge himself, very heartily. "If shedoesn't, I'll come after her. "

"Shall I drive to your house now, Judge Edwards?" Jack said at last. 

The party separated, and Jack started the bay team again. 

The house of Judge Edwards was only a short distance farther, and thatof Mrs. Potter was just beyond. 

"Mary Ogden, " said Miss Glidden in parting, "you must surely acceptMrs. Edwards's invitation. She is the kindest of women. "

"Yes, Miss Glidden, " said Mary, demurely. 

Jack broke in: "Of course you will. You'll have a real good time, too. "

"And you'll come and see me?" said Mrs. Potter, and Mary promised. Then Jack and the Judge's coachman lowered to the sidewalk MissGlidden's enormous trunk. 

As Mrs. Potter alighted, a few minutes later, she declared to Mary:

"I'm confident, my dear, that you will experience enthusiastichospitality. "

"What shall I do?" asked Mary, as they drove away. "Miss Gliddendidn't mean what she said. She is not fond of me. "

"The Judge meant it, " said Jack. "They liked you. None of thempressed me to come visiting, I noticed. I'll leave you at Murdoch'sand take the team to the stable, and then go to the office of the_Eagle_ and see the editor. "

But when they reached the Murdochs', good Mrs. Murdoch came to thedoor. She kissed Mary, and then said:

"I'm so glad to see you! So glad you've come! Poor Mr. Murdoch--"

"Jack's going to the office to see him, " said Mary. 

"He needn't go there, " said the editor's wife; "Mr. Murdoch is ill athome. The storm and the excitement and the exposure have broken himdown. Come right in, dear. Come back, Jack, as soon as you have takencare of the horses. "

"It's a pity, " said Jack as he drove away. "The _Eagle_ will have ahard time of it without any editor. "

He was still considering that matter when he reached the livery-stable, but he was abruptly aroused from his thoughts by the owner of the team, who cried excitedly:

"Hurrah! Here's my team! I say, young man, how did you cross Link'sbridge? A man on horseback just came here and told us it was down. Iwas afraid I'd lost my team for a week. "

"Well, here they are, " said Jack, smiling. "They're both goodswimmers, and as for the carriage, it floated like a boat. "

"Oh, it did?" laughed the stable-keeper, as he examined his property. "Livermore sent you with them, I suppose. I was losing five dollars aday by not having those horses here. What's your name? Do you live inCrofield?"

"Jack Ogden. "

"Oh! you're the blacksmith's son. Old Murdoch told me about you. Myname's Prodger. I know your father, and I've known him twenty years. How did you get over the creek--tell me about it?"

Jack told him, and Mr. Prodger drew a long breath at the end of thestory. 

"You didn't know the risk you were running, " he said; "but you didfirst-rate, and if I needed another driver I'd be glad to hire you. What did Livermore say I was to pay you?"

"He didn't say, " said Jack. "I wasn't thinking about being paid. "

"So much the better. I think the more of you, my boy. But it wasplucky to drive that team over Link's bridge just before it went down. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll pay you what they'll earn meto-night--it will be about three dollars--and we'll call it square. How will that do?"

"It's more than I've earned, " said Jack, gratefully. 

"I'm satisfied, if you are, " said Mr. Prodger as Jack jumped down. "Come and see me again if you're to be in town. You're fond of horsesand have a knack with them. "

"Three dollars!" said Jack, after the money had been paid him, and hewas on his way back to the Murdochs'. "Mother let me have the sixdollars they gave me for the fish. And this makes nine dollars. Why, it will take me the rest of the way to the city--but I wouldn't have acent when I got there. "

When he reached the editor's house, Jack noticed that the house was onthe same square with the block of wooden buildings containing the_Eagle_ office, and that the editor could go to his work through hisown garden, if he chose, instead of around by the street. He was againwelcomed by Mrs. Murdoch, and then led at once into Mr. Murdoch's room, where the editor was in bed, groaning and complaining in a way thatindicated much distress. 

"I'm very sorry you're sick, Mr. Murdoch, " said Jack. 

"Thank you, Jack. It's just my luck. It's the very worst time for meto be on the sick-list. Nobody to get out the _Eagle_. Lost my'devil' to-day, too!"

"Lost your 'devil'?" exclaimed Jack. 

"Yes, " said Mr. Murdoch in despair. "No 'devil'! No editor! Nobodybut a wooden foreman and a pair of lead-headed type-stickers. The manthat does the mailing has more than he can do, too. There won't be any_Eagle_ this week, and perhaps none next week. Plenty of 'copy' nearlyready, too. It's too bad!"

[Illustration: _"There won't be any Eagle this week. "_]

"You needn't feel so discouraged, " said Jack, deeply touched by thedistress of the groaning editor. "Molly and I know what to do. Shecan manage the copy, just as she did for the _Standard_ once. So canI. We'll go right to work. "

"Oh, yes, I'd forgotten, " said Mr. Murdoch. "You've worked a while atprinting. I'm willing you should see what you can do. I'd like tospeak to Mary. I'm sorry to say that you'll have to sleep in theoffice, Jack, for we've only one spare room in this nutshell of ahouse. "

"I don't mind that, " said Jack. 

"I hope I'll be out in a day or so, " added the editor. "But, Jack, thepress is run by a pony steam-engine, and that foreman couldn't run itto save his life, " he added hopelessly. 

"Why, it's nothing to do, " exclaimed Jack. "I've helped run an enginefor a steam thrashing-machine. Don't you be worried about the engine. "

Mr. Murdoch was able to be up a little while in the evening, and Marycame in to see him. From what he said to her, it seemed as if therewas really very little to do in editing the remainder of the nextnumber of the _Eagle_. 

"I'm so glad you're here, " said Mrs. Murdoch, when Mary came out tosupper. "I never read a newspaper myself, and I don't know the firstthing about putting one together. It's too bad that you should bebothered with it though. "

"Why, Mrs. Murdoch, " exclaimed Mary, laughing, "I shall be delighted. I'd rather do it than not. "

The truth was that it was not easy for either Mary or her brother to bevery sorry that Mr. Murdoch was not able to work. They did not feelanxious about him, for his wife had told them it was not a seriousattack, and they enjoyed the prospect of editing the newspaper. 

After supper Jack and Mary went through the garden to the _Eagle_office. The pony-engine was in a sort of woodshed, the press was inthe "kitchen, " as Mary called it, and the front room of the little olddwelling-house was the business office. The editor's office and thetype-setting room were up-stairs. 

Jack took a look at the engine. 

"Any one could run that, " he said. "I know just how to set it going. Come on, Molly. This is going to be great fun. "

The editor's room was only large enough for a table and a chair and afew heaps of exchange newspapers. The table was littered and piledwith scraps of writing and printing. 

"See!" exclaimed Jack, picking up a sheet of paper. "The last thingMr. Murdoch did was to finish an account of his visit to Crofield, andthe flood. We'll put that in first thing to-morrow. It's easy to edita newspaper. Where are the scissors?"

"We needn't bother to write new editorials, " said Mary. "Here are allthese papers full of them. "

"Of course, " said Jack. "But we must pick out good ones. "

Their tastes differed somewhat, and Mary condemned a number of articlesthat seemed to Jack excellent. However, she selected a story and somepoems and a bright letter from Europe, and Jack found an account of anexciting horse-race, a horrible railway accident, a base-ball match, afight with Indians, an explosion of dynamite, and several long stripsof jokes and conundrums. 

"These are splendid editorials!" said Mary, looking up from herreading. "We can cut them down to fit the _Eagle_, and nobody willsuspect that Mr. Murdoch has been away. "

"Oh, they'll do, " said Jack. "They're all lively. Mr. Murdoch is sureto be satisfied. I don't think he can write better editorials himself. "

The young editors were much excited over their work, and soon became soabsorbed in their duties that it was ten o'clock before they knew it. 

"Now, Molly, " said Jack, "we'll go to the house and tell him it's allright. We'll set the _Eagle_ a-going in the morning. I knew we couldedit it. "

Mary had very little to say; her fingers ached from plying thescissors, her eyes burned from reading so much and so fast, and herhead was in a whirl. 

At the house they met Mrs. Murdoch. 

"Oh, my dear children!" exclaimed she to Mary, "Mr. Murdoch isdelirious. The doctor's been here, and says he won't be able to thinkof work--not for days and days. Can you, --_can_ you run the _Eagle_?You won't let it stop. "

"No, indeed!" said Mary. "There's plenty of 'copy' ready, and Jack canrun the engine. "

"I'm so glad, " said Mrs. Murdoch. "I'd never dare to clip anything. Imight make serious mistakes. He's so careful not to attack anythingnor to offend anybody. All sorts of people take the _Eagle_, and Mr. Murdoch says he has to steer clear of almost everything. "

"We won't write anything, " said Jack; "we'll just select the best thereis and put it right in. Those city editors on the big papers know whatto write. "

The editor's wife was convinced; and, after Mary had gone to her room, Jack returned to a room prepared for him in the _Eagle_ office. 

"I sha'n't wear my Sunday clothes to-morrow, " said Jack; "I'll put on ahickory shirt and old trousers; then I'll be ready to work. "

The last thing he remembered saying to himself was:

"Well, I'm nine miles nearer to New York. "

Morning came, and Jack was busy before breakfast, but he went to thehouse early. 

"I must be there when the 'hands' come, " he said to Mrs. Murdoch. "Molly ought to be in the office, too--"

"I've told Mr. Murdoch, " she said, "but he has a severe headache. Hecan't bear to talk. "

"He needn't talk if he doesn't feel able, " replied Jack. "The _Eagle_will come out all right!"

Mary could hardly wait to finish her cup of coffee, but she tried hardto appear calm. She was ready as soon as Jack, but she did not havequite so much confidence in her ability to do whatever might benecessary. 

There was to be some press-work done that forenoon, and the pony-enginehad steam up when the foreman and the two type-setters reached theoffice. 

"Good-morning, Mr. Black, " said Jack, as he came into the engine-room. "It's all right. I'm Jack Ogden, a friend of Mr. Murdoch's. The neweditor's upstairs. There's some copy ready. Mr. Murdoch will not beat the office for a week. "

"Bless me!" said Mr. Black. "I reckoned that we'd have to strike work. What we need most is a 'devil'--"

"I can be 'devil, '" said Jack. "I used to run the _Standard_. "

"Boys, " said the foreman, without the change of a muscle in hispasty-looking face, "Murdoch's hired a proxy. I'll go up for copy. "

He stumped upstairs to what he called the "sanctum. " The door stoodopen. Mr. Black's eyes blinked rapidly when he saw Mary at theeditor's table; but he did not utter a word. 

"Good-morning, Mr. Black, " said Mary, holding out Mr. Murdoch'smanuscript and a number of printed clippings. She rapidly told himwhat they were, and how each of them was to be printed. Mr. Blackheard her to the end, and then he said:

"Good-morning, ma'am. Is your name Murdoch, ma'am?"

"No, sir. Miss Ogden, " said Mary. "But no one need be told that Mr. Murdoch is not here. I do not care to see anybody, unless it'snecessary. "

"Yes, ma'am, " said Mr. Black. "We'll go right along, ma'am. We'reglad the _Eagle_ is to come out on time, ma'am. "

He was very respectful, as if the idea of having a young girl as editorawed him; and he backed out of the office, with both hands full ofcopy, to stump down-stairs and tell his two journeymen:

"It's all right, boys. Bless me! I never saw the like before. "

He explained the state of affairs, and each in turn soon managed tomake an errand up-stairs, and then to come down again almost as awed asMr. Black had been. 

"She's a driver, " said the foreman. "She was made for a boss. She hasit in her eye. "

Even Jack, when he was sent up after copy, was a little astonished. 

"That's the way father looks, " he thought, "whenever he begins to losehis temper. The men mind him then, too; but he has to be waked upfirst. I know how she feels. She's bound the _Eagle_ shall come outon time!"

Even Jack did not appreciate how responsibility was waking up MaryOgden, or how much older she felt than when she left Crofield; but hehad an idea that she was taller, and that her eyes had become darker. 

Mr. Bones, the man of all work in the front office below, was of theopinion that she was very tall, and that her eyes were very black, andthat he did not care to go up-stairs again; for he had blundered intothe sanctum, supposing that Mr. Murdoch was there, and remarking as hecame:

"Sa-ay, that there underdone gawk that helps edit the _Inquirer_, hewas jist in, lookin' for--yes, ma'am! Beg pardon, ma'am! I'm onlyBones--"

"What did the gentleman want, Mr. Bones?" asked Mary, with muchdignity. "Mr. Murdoch is at home. He is ill. Is it anything I canattend to?"

"Oh, no, ma'am; nothing, ma'am. He's a blower. We don't mind him, ma'am. I'll go down right away, ma'am. I'll see Mr. Black, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. "

He withdrew with many bows; and while down-stairs he saw Jack, and henot only saw, but felt, that something very new and queer had happenedto the Mertonville _Eagle_. 

Both Mary and Jack were aware that there was a rival newspaper, but ithad not occurred to them that they were at all interested in the_Inquirer_, or in its editors, beyond the fact that both papers werepublished on Thursdays, and that the _Eagle_ was the larger. 

The printers worked fast that day, as if something spurred them on, andMr. Black was almost bright when he reported to Mary how much they haddone during the day. 

"The new boy's the best 'devil' we ever had, ma'am, " said he. "Pleasesay to Mr. Murdoch we'd better keep him. "

"Thank you, Mr. Black, " said she. "I hope Mr. Murdoch will soon bewell. "

He stumped away, and it seemed to her as if her dignity barely lasteduntil she and Jack found themselves in Mr. Murdoch's garden, on theirway home. It broke completely down as they were going between thesweet-corn and the tomatoes, and there they both stopped and laughedheartily. 

"But, Molly, " Jack exclaimed, when he recovered his breath, "we'll haveto print the liveliest kind of an _Eagle_, or the _Inquirer_ will getahead of us. I'm going out, after supper, all over town, to pick upnews. If I can only find some boys I know here, they could tell me alot of good items. The boys know more of what's going on than anybody. "

"I'd like to go with you, " said Mary. "Stir around and find out allyou can. "

"I know what to do, " said Jack, with energy, and if he had reallyundertaken to do all he proceeded to tell her, it would have kept himout all night. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CAUGHT FOR A BURGLAR. 

Supper was ready when Jack and Mary went into the house, and Mrs. Murdoch was eager that they should eat at once. She seemed veryplacidly to take it for granted that things were going properly in the_Eagle_ office. Her husband had been ill before, and the paper hadsomehow lived along, and she was not the kind of woman to fret about it. 

"He's been worrying, " she said to Mary, "principally about town news. He's afraid the _Inquirer_ 'll get ahead of you. It might be good tosee him. "

"I'll see him, " said Mary. 

"Mary! Mary!" came faintly in reply to her kindly greeting. "Localitems, Mary. Society Notes--the flood--logs--bridges--dams--fires. Brief Mention. Town Improvement Society--the Sociable--anything!"

"Jack will be out after news as soon as he eats his supper, " said Mary. "He'll find all there is to find. The printers did a splendid day'swork. "

"The doctor says not to tell me about anything, " said the sick man, despondently. "You'll fill the paper somehow. Do the best you can, till I get well. "

She did not linger, for Mrs. Murdoch was already pulling her sleeve. The three were soon seated at the table, and hardly was a cup of teapoured before Mrs. Murdoch remarked:

"Mary, " she said, "Miss Glidden called here to-day, with Mrs. JudgeEdwards, in her carriage. They were sorry to find you out. So didMrs. Mason, and so did Mrs. Lansing, and Mrs. Potter. They wanted youto go riding, and there's a lawn-tennis party coming. I told them allthat Mr. Murdoch was sick, and you were editing the _Eagle_, and Jackwas, too. Miss Glidden's very fond of you, you know. So is Mrs. Potter. Her husband wishes he knew what to send Jack for saving hiswife from being drowned. "

This was delivered steadily but not rapidly, and Mary needed only tosay she would have been glad to see them all. 

"I didn't save anybody, " said Jack. "If the logs had hit the bridgewhile we were on it, nothing could have saved us. "

Mary was particularly glad that none of her new friends were coming into spend the evening, for she felt she had done enough for one day. Mrs. Murdoch, however, told her of a "Union Church Sociable, " to beheld at the house of Mrs. Edwards, the next Thursday evening, and saidshe had promised to bring Miss Ogden. Of course Mary said she wouldgo, but Jack declined. 

After supper, Jack was eager to set out upon his hunt after news-items. 

"I mustn't let a soul know what I'm doing, " he said to Mary. "We'llsee whether I can't find out as much as the _Inquirer's_ man can. "

He hurried away from the house, but soon ceased to walk fast and beganto peer sharply about. 

"There's a new building going up, " he said, as he turned a corner;"I'll find out about it. "

So he did, but it was only "by the way"; he really had a plan, and thenext step took him to Mr. Prodger's livery-stable. 

"Well, Ogden, " said Prodger, when he came in. "That bay team hasearned eight dollars and fifty cents to-day. I'm glad you brought themover. How long are you going to be in town?"

"I can't tell, " said Jack. "I'm staying at Murdoch's. "

"The editor's? He's a good fellow, but the _Eagle_ is slow. All dryfodder. No vinegar. No pickles. He needs waking up. Tell him aboutLink's bridge!"

That was a good beginning, and Jack soon knew just how high the waterhad risen in the creek at Mertonville; how high it had ever risenbefore; how many logs had been saved; how near Sam Hutchins and threeother men came to being carried over the dam; and what people talkedabout doing to prevent another flood, and other matters of interest. Then he went among the stable-men, who had been driving all day, andthey gave him a number of items. Jack relied mainly upon his memory, but he soon gathered such a budget of facts that he had to go to thepublic reading-room and work a while with pencil and paper, for fear offorgetting his treasures. 

Out he went again, and it was curious how he managed to slip in amongknots of idlers, and set them to talking, and make them tell all theyknew. 

"I'm getting the news, " he said to himself; "only there isn't muchworth the time. " After a few moments he exclaimed, "This is thedarkest, meanest part of all Mertonville!"

It was the oldest part of the village, near the canal and the railwaystation, and many of the houses were dilapidated. Jack was thinkingthat Mary might write something about improving such a neglected, squalid quarter, when he heard a shriek from the door of a house nearby. 

"Robbers!--thieves!--fire!--murder!--rob-bers!--villains!"

It was the voice of a woman, and had a crack in it that made it soundas if two voices were trying to choke each other. 

"Robbers!" shouted Jack springing forward, just as two very short mendashed through the gate and disappeared in the darkness. 

If they were robbers they were likely to get away, for they ran well. 

Jack Ogden did not run very far. He heard other footsteps. There werepeople coming from the opposite direction, but he paid no attention tothem, until just as he was passing the gate. 

Then he felt a hand on his left shoulder, and another hand on his rightshoulder, and suddenly he found himself lying flat on his back upon thesidewalk. 

"Hold him, boys!"

"We've got him!"

"Hold him down!"

"Tie him! We needn't gag him. Tie him tight! We've got him!"

There were no less than four men, and two held his legs, while theother two pinioned his arms, all the while threatening him withterrible things if he resisted. 

It was in vain to struggle, and every time he tried to speak theysilenced him. Besides, he was too much astonished to talk easily, andall the while an unceasing torrent of abuse was poured upon him, overthe gate, by the voice that had given the alarm. 

"We've got him, Mrs. McNamara! He can't get away this time. The youngvillain!"

"They were goin' to brek into me house, indade, " said Mrs. McNamara. "The murdherin' vagabones!"

"What'll we do with him now, boys?" asked one of his captors. "I don'tknow where to take him--do you, Deacon Abrams?"

"What's your name, you young thief?" sternly demanded another. 

Jack had begun to think. One of his first thoughts was that a gang ofdesperate robbers had seized him. The next idea was, that he never metfour more stupid-looking men in Mertonville, nor anywhere else. Heresolved that he would not tell his name, to have it printed in the_Inquirer_, and so made no answer. 

"That's the way of thim, " said Mrs. McNamara. "He's game, and he won'tpache. The joodge'll have to mak him spake. Ye'd betther lock him up, and kape him till day. "

"That's it, Deacon Abrams. "

"That's just it, " said the man spoken to. "We can lock him up in theback room of my house, while we go and find the constable. "

Away they went, guarding their prisoner on the way as if they wereafraid of him. 

They soon came to the dwelling of Deacon Abrams. 

It was hard for Jack Ogden, but he bore it like a young Mohawk Indian. It would have been harder if it had not been so late, and if more ofthe household had been there to see him. As it was, doors opened, candles flared, old voices and young voices asked questions, a babycried, and then Jack heard a very sharp voice. 

"Sakes alive, Deacon! You can't have that ruffian here! We shall allbe murdered!"

"Only till I go and find the constable, Jerusha, " said the deacon, pleadingly. "We'll lock him in the back room, and Barney andPettigrew'll stand guard at the gate, with clubs, while Smith and I aregone. "

There was another protest, and two more children began to cry, but Jackwas led on into his prison-cell. 

It was a comfortable room, containing a bed and a chair. There wasreal ingenuity in the way they secured Jack Ogden. They backed a chairagainst a bedpost and made him sit down, and then they tied the chair, and the wicked young robber in it, to the post. 

"There!" said Deacon Abrams. "He can't get away now!" and in a momentmore Jack heard the key turn in the lock, and he was left in the dark, alone and bound, --a prisoner under a charge of burglary. 

"I never thought of this thing happening to me, " he said to himself, gritting his teeth and squirming on his chair. "It's pretty hard. Maybe I can get away, though. They thought they pulled the ropes tight, but then--"

The hempen fetters really hurt him a little, but it was partly becauseof the chair. 

"May be I can kick it out from under me, " he said to himself, "andloosen the ropes. "

Out it came, after a tug, and then Jack could stand up. 

"I might climb on the bed, now the ropes are loose, " he said, "and liftthe loops over the post. Then I could crawl out of 'em. "

He was excited, and worked quickly. In a moment he was standing in themiddle of the room, with only his hands tied behind him. 

"I can cut that cord, " he thought, "if I can find a nail in the wall. "

He easily found several, and one of them had a rough edge on the headof it, and after a few minutes of hard sawing, the cord was severed. 

"It's easy to saw twine, " said he. "Now for the next thing. "

He went to the window and looked out into the darkness. 

"I'm over the roof of the kitchen, " he said, "and that tree's close toit. "

Up went the window--slowly, carefully, noiselessly--and out crept Jackupon that roof. It was steep, but he stole along the ridge. Now hecould reach the tree. 

"It's an apple-tree, " he said. "I can reach that longest branch, andswing off, and go down it hand over hand. "

At an ordinary time, few boys would have thought it could be done, andJack had to gather all his courage to make the attempt; but he sliddown and reached for that small, frail limb, from his perilous perch inthe gutter of the roof. 

"Now!" said Jack to himself. 

Off he went with a quick grasp, and then another lower along thebranch, before it had time to break, but his third grip was on a largerlimb, below, and he believed he was safe. 

"I must be quick!" he said. "Somebody is striking a light in thatroom!"

Hand over hand for a moment, and then he was astride of a limb. Soonhe was going down the trunk; and then the window (which he had closedbehind him) went up, and he heard Deacon Abrams exclaiming:

"He couldn't have got out this way, could he? Stop thief! Stop thief!"

"Let 'em chase!" muttered Jack, as his feet reached the ground. "Thisis the liveliest kind of news-item!"

Jack vaulted over the nearest fence, ran across a garden, climbed overanother fence, ran through a lot, and came out into a street on theother side of the square. 

"I've got a good start, now, " he thought, "but I'll keep right on. They don't expect me at Murdoch's to-night. If I can only get to the_Eagle_ office! Nobody'll hunt for me there!"

He heard the sound of feet, at that moment, around the next corner. Open went the nearest gate, and in went Jack, and before long he wasscaling more fences. 

"It's just like playing 'Hare-and-Hounds, '" remarked Jack, as he oncemore came out into a street. "Now for the _Eagle_, and it won't do torun. I'm safe. "

He heard some running and shouting after that, however, and he did notreally feel secure until he was on his bed, with the doors below lockedand barred. 

"Now they can hunt all night!" he said to himself, laughing. "I'vemade plenty of news for Mary. "

So she thought next morning; and the last "news-item" brought out thecolor in her cheeks and the brightness in her eyes. 

"I'll write it out, " she said, "just as if you were the real robber, and we'll print it!"

"Of course, " said Jack; "but I'd better keep shady for a day or so. Iwish I was on my way to New York!"

"Seems to me as if you were, " said Mary. "They won't come here afteryou. The paper's nearly full, now, and it'll be out to-morrow!"

Mr. Murdoch would have been gratified to see how Mary and Jack workedthat day. Even Mr. Black and the type-setters worked with energy, andso did Mr. Bones, and there was no longer any doubt that the _Eagle_would be printed on time. Mr. Murdoch felt better the moment he wastold by Mary, at tea-time, that she had found editing no trouble atall. He was glad, he said, that all had been so quiet, and that nobodyhad called at the editor's office, and that people did not know he wassick. As to that, however, Mr. Bones had not told Mary how much he andMr. Black had done to protect her from intrusion. They had been like apair of watch-dogs, and it was hardly possible for any outsider to passthem. As for Jack, he was not seen outside of the _Eagle_ all that day. 

"If any of Deacon Abram's posse should come in, " he remarked to Mary, "they wouldn't know me with all the ink that's on my face. "

"Mother would have to look twice, " laughed Mary. "Don't I wish I knewwhat people will think of the paper!"

She did not find out at once, even on Thursday. Jack had the enginegoing on time, and as fast as papers were printed, the distribution ofthem followed. It was a very creditable _Eagle_, but Mary blushed whenshe read in print the account Mr. Murdoch had written of the doings inCrofield. 

"They'll think Jack's a hero, " she said, "and what will they think ofme?--and what will Miss Glidden say? But then he has complimented her. "

Jack, too, was much pleased to read the vivid accounts she had writtenof the capture and escape of the daring young burglar who had brokeninto the house of Mrs. McNamara, and of the falling of Link's bridge. Neither of them, however, had an idea of how some articles in the paperwould affect other people. Before noon, there was such a rush for_Eagles_, at the front office, that Mr. Black got out another ream ofpaper to print a second edition, and Mr. Bones had almost to fight tokeep the excited crowd from going up-stairs to see for themselveswhether the editor was there. Before night, poor Mrs. Murdoch went tothe door thirty times to say to eager inquirers that Mr. Murdoch was inbed, and that Dr. Follet had forbidden him to see anybody, or to talkone word, or to get himself excited. 

"What's the matter with the people?" she said wearily. "Can it bepossible that anything's the matter with the _Eagle_? Mary Ogden saidshe'd taken the very best editorials from the city papers. "

The _Inquirer_ was nowhere that Thursday, and the excitement over the_Eagle_ increased all the afternoon. 

[Illustration: _Just out_. ]

"It's all right, Mrs. Murdoch, " said Jack, at supper. "Bones says hehas sold more than two hundred extra copies. "

"I'm glad of that, " she said, "and I'll tell Mr. Murdoch; but hemustn't read it. "

When she did so, he smiled faintly and with an effort feebly responded:

"Thank Mary for me. I suppose they wanted to read about the flood. "

Mr. Bones had not seen fit to report to Mary that a baker's dozen ofold subscribers had ordered their paper stopped; nor that one angry manwith a big club in his hand had inquired for the editor; nor thatDeacon Abrams, and the Town Constable, and three other men, and alawyer had called to see the editor about the robbery at Mrs. McNamara's; nor that the same worthy woman, with her arms akimbo andher bonnet falling back, had fiercely demanded of him:

"Fwhat for did yez print all that about me howlin'? Wudn't ony womanspake, was she bein' robbed and murdhered?"

Bones had pacified Mrs. McNamara only by sitting still and hearing herout, and he would not for anything have mentioned it to Miss Ogden. She therefore had only good news to tell at the house, and Mrs. Murdoch's replies related chiefly to the Union Church Sociable at JudgeEdwards's. 

"Mr. Murdoch is quiet, " she said, "and he may sleep all the time we'regone. "

"I'll be on hand to look out for him, " said Jack, "I'm not goinganywhere. "

That reassured them as to leaving home, and Mrs. Murdoch and Marydeparted without anxiety; but they had hardly entered the Edwards'shouse before they found that many other people were very much lessplacid. 

The first person to come forward, after Mrs. Edwards had welcomed them, was Miss Glidden. 

"Oh, Mary Ogden!" she exclaimed, very sweetly and benevolently. "Mydear! Why did you say so much about me in the _Eagle_?"

"That was Mr. Murdoch's work, " said Mary. "I had nothing to do withit. "

"And that robbery and escape was really shocking. "

"Exactly!" They heard a sharp, decided voice near them, and it camefrom a thin little man in a white cravat. "You are right, ElderHolloway! When a leading journal like the _Eagle_ finds it needful todenounce so sternly the state of the public streets in Mertonville, itis time for the people to act. We ministers must hold a council rightaway. "

Mary remembered a political editorial she had taken from a New Yorkpaper, and had cut down to fit the _Eagle_; but its effect wassomething unexpected. 

A deeper voice on her left spoke next. 

"There was serious talk among the hotel-men and innkeepers of mobbingthe _Eagle_ office to-day!"

"That, " thought Mary, "must be the high-license editorial from thatPhiladelphia weekly. "

"We must _act_, Judge Edwards!" exclaimed another voice. "Nobody knowsMurdoch's politics, but his denunciation of the prevailing corruptionis terrible. There's a storm rising. The Republican Committee hascalled a special meeting to consider the matter, and we Democrats mustdo the same. The _Eagle_ is right about it, too; but it was a daringstep for him to take. "

"That's the editorial from the Chicago daily, " thought Mary; "the lastpart was from that Boston paper! Oh, dear me! What have I done?"

She had to ask herself that question a dozen times that evening, andshe wished Jack had been there to hear what was said. 

The sociable went gayly on, nevertheless, and all the while Jack sat inMrs. Murdoch's dining-room, his face fairly glowing red with theinterest he took in something spread out upon the table before him. Itwas a large map of New York city that he had found in the _Eagle_office and brought to the house. 

CHAPTER IX. 

NEARER THE CITY. 

Mary Ogden would have withdrawn into some quiet corner, at thesociable, if it had not been for Elder Holloway and Miss Glidden, whoseemed determined to prevent her from being overlooked. All those whohad called upon Mrs. Murdoch knew that Mary had had something to dowith that extraordinary number of the _Eagle_, and they told others, but Mrs. Murdoch escaped all discussion about the _Eagle_ by saying shehad not read it, and referring every one to Miss Ogden. 

Mary was glad when the evening was over. After hearing the comments ofthe public, there was something about their way of editing the paperthat seemed almost dishonest. 

Jack was still up when she came home. 

"I've used my time better than if I'd gone to the party, " he said. "I've studied the map of New York. I'd know just how to go around, ifI was there. I am going to study it all the time I'm here. "

Mr. Murdoch was better. He had had a comfortable night, and felt ableto think of business again. 

"Now, my dear, " he said to his wife, "I'm ready to take a look at the_Eagle_. I am glad it was a good number. "

"They talked about it all last evening at the sociable, " she answered, as she handed him a copy. 

He was even cheerful, when he began; and he studied the paper as Jackhad studied the map. It was a long time before he said a word. 

"My account of the flood is really capital, " he said, at last, "and allthat about Crofield matters. The report of things in Mertonville isgood; that about the logs, the dam, the burglary--a very extraordinaryoccurrence, by the way--it's a blessing they didn't kill Mrs. McNamara. The story is good; funny-column good. But--oh, gracious! Oh, MaryOgden! Oh my stars! What's this?"

He had begun on the editorials, and he groaned and rolled about whilehe was reading them. 

"They'll mob the _Eagle_!" he said at last. "I must get up! Oh, butthis is dreadful! She's pitched into everything there is! I must getup at once!"

Those editorials were a strong tonic, or else Mr. Murdoch's illness wasover. He dressed himself, and walked out into the kitchen. His wifehad not heard him say he would get up, but she seemed almost to haveexpected it. 

"It's the way you always do, " she said. "I'm never much scared aboutyou. You'll never die till your time comes. I think Mary is over atthe office. "

"I'm going there, now, " he said, excitedly. "If this work goes on, Ishall have the whole town about my ears. "

He was right. Mary had been at her table promptly that morning to makea beginning on the next number; Jack was down in the engine-room; Mr. Black was busy, and Mr. Bones was out, when a party of very red-facedmen filed in, went through the front office, and climbed the stairs. 

"We'll show him!" said one. 

"It'll be a lesson he won't forget!" remarked another, fiercely. 

"He'll take it back, or there will be broken bones!" added another; andthese spoke for the rest. They had sticks, and they tramped heavily asthey marched to the "sanctum. " The foremost opened the door, withoutknocking, and his voice was deep, threatening, and husky as he began:

"Now, Mr. Editor--"

"I'm the editor, sir. What do you wish of me?"

[Illustration: _"I'm the Editor, sir. "_]

Mary Ogden stood before him, looking him straight in the face without aquiver. 

He was a big man; but, oddly enough, it occurred to him that Maryseemed larger than he was. 

"Bob!" exclaimed a harsh whisper behind him, "howld yer tongue! it'sonly a gir-rl! Don't ye say a har-rd word to the loikes o' her!"

Other whispers and growls came from the hall, but the big man stoodlike a stone post for several seconds. 

"You're the editor?" he gasped. "Is old Murdoch dead, --or has he runaway?"

"He's at home, and ill, " said Mary. "What is your errand?"

"I keep a decent hotel, sir, --ma'am--madam--I do, --we all do, --it's the_Eagle_, you know, --and there's no kind of disorder, --and there wasnever any complaint in Mertonville--"

"Howld on, Bob!" exclaimed the prompter behind him. "You're no good atall; coom along, b'ys. Be civil, --Mike Flaherty will never have itsaid he brought a shillalah to argy wid a colleen. I'm aff!"

Away he went, stick and all, and the other five followed promptly, leaving Mary Ogden standing still in amazement. She was trying tocollect her thoughts when Mr. Black marched in from the other room, followed by the two typesetters; and Mr. Bones tumbled up-stairs, outof breath. 

Mary had hardly any explanation to make about what Mr. Bonesfrantically described as "the riot, " and she was inclined to laugh atit. Just then Mr. Murdoch himself came to the door. 

Jack stopped the engine, exclaiming, "Mr. Murdoch! you here?"

"What is it? What is it?" he exclaimed. "I saw them go out. Did theybreak anything?"

"Miss Ogden scared 'em off in no time, " said Mr. Black. 

Mary resigned the editorial chair to Mr. Murdoch. Bones brought in twooffice chairs; Mr. Black appeared with a very high stool that usuallystood before one of his typecases; Mary preferred one of the officechairs, and there she sat a long time, replying to Mr. Murdoch'squestions and remarks. She had plenty to tell, after all she had heardat the sociable, and Mr. Murdoch groaned at times, but still he thankedher for her efforts. Meanwhile Mr. Black went to the engine-room withan errand for Jack that sent him over to the other side of the village. Jack looked in the little cracked mirror in the front room as he wentout. 

"Ink enough; they'll never know me, " said Jack. "I'm safe enough. Besides, Mrs. McNamara wasn't robbed at all. She was yelling becauseshe thought robbers were coming. "

He loitered along on his way back, with his eyes open and his earsready to catch any bit of stray news, and paused a moment to peer intoa small shoe-shop. 

It was only a momentary glance, but a hammer ceased tapping upon alapstone, and a tall man straightened up suddenly and very straight, ashe untied his leather apron. 

"That's the fellow!" he exclaimed under his breath, but Jack heard him. 

"He knew me! He knew me! I can't stay in Mertonville!" thought Jack. "There'll be trouble now. "

He started at a run, but it was so early that he attracted littleattention. 

His return to the _Eagle_ office was so quick that Mr. Black opened hiseyes in surprise. 

"I've got to see Mr. Murdoch, " Jack said hurriedly, and up-stairs hedarted, to break right in upon the conference between the editors. 

Jack told his story, and Mr. Murdoch felt it was only another blowadded to the many already fallen upon him and his _Eagle_. "Perhapsyou will be better satisfied to leave town, " said Mr. Murdoch, uneasily. 

"I've enough money to take me to the city, and I'll go. I'm off forNew York!" said Jack, eagerly. 

"New York?" exclaimed Mr. Murdoch. "That's the thing! Go to the houseand get ready. I'll buy you a ticket to Albany, and you can go down onthe night boat. They're taking passengers for half a dollar. Youmustn't be caught! No doubt they are hunting for you now. "

Mr. Murdoch was right. At that very moment the cobbler was in thegrocery kept by Deacon Abrams, shouting, "We've got him again, Deacon!He's in town. He works in a paint shop--had paint on his face. Orelse he's a blacksmith, or he works in coal, or something black--ordusty. We can run him down now. "

While they went for the two others who knew Jack's face, he was puttingon his Sunday clothes and packing up. When he came down, there was noink upon his face, his collar was clean, his hair was brushed, and hewas a complete surprise to Mr. Black and the rest. 

"I can get a new boy, " said Mr. Murdoch, as if he were beginning torecover his spirits; "and I can run the engine myself now I'm well. Ican say in the next _Eagle_ that you are gone to the city, and thatwill help me out of my troubles. "

Neither Jack nor Mary quite understood what he meant, and, in fact, they were not thinking about him just then. Mr. Murdoch had said thatthere was only time to catch the express-train, and they were sayinggood-by. Mary was crying for the moment, and Jack was telling her whatto write to his mother and father and those at home in Crofield. 

"It's so sudden, Jack!" said Mary. "But I'm glad you're going. I wishI could go, too. "

"I wish you could, " said Jack, heartily; "but I'll write. I'll tellyou everything. Good-by, Mr. Murdoch's waiting. Good-by!"

The _Eagle_ editor was indeed waiting, and he was very uneasy. "What acalamity it would be, " he thought, "to have my own 'devil' arrested forburglary. The _Inquirer_ would enjoy that! It isn't Jack's fault, butI can't bear everything!"

Meanwhile Mary sat at the table and pretended to look among the papersfor a new story, but really she was trying to keep from crying overJack's departure. Mr. Murdoch and Jack had gone to the station. 

There was cunning in the plans of the pursuers of Mrs. McNamara'sburglar this time. Three of them, each aided by several eagervolunteers, dashed around Mertonville, searching every shop in whichany sort of face-blacking might be used, and Deacon Abrams himself wentto the station with a justice of the peace, a notary-public, aconstable, and the man that kept the village pound. 

"He won't get by _me_, " said the deacon wisely, as Mr. Murdoch and aneatly dressed young gentleman passed him, arm in arm. 

"Good morning, Mr. Murdoch. The _Eagle's_ improving. You did mejustice. We're after that same villain now. We'll get him this time, too. "

"Deacon, " said the editor, gripping Jack's arm hard, "I'll mention yourcourage and public spirit again. Tie him tighter next time. "

"We will, " said the deacon; "and I've got some new subscribers for you, and a column advertisement. "

Mr. Murdoch hurried to the ticket-window, and Jack patiently lookedaway from Deacon Abrams all the while. 

"There, " said Mr. Murdoch, "jump right in. Keep your satchel with you. I'm going back to the office. "

[Illustration: _"There, " said Mr. Murdoch, "jump right in. "_]

"Good-by, " said Jack, pocketing his ticket and entering the car. 

He took a seat by the open window, just as the train started. 

"Jack's gone, Mary, " exclaimed Mr. Murdoch, under his breath, as here-entered the _Eagle_ office. "Have those men been here again?"

"No, " said Mary. "But the chairmen of the two central committees haveboth been here. Elder Holloway said they would. They will call again. "

"What did you say?" the editor asked. 

"Why, " replied Mary, "I told them you were just getting well. "

"So I am, " said Mr. Murdoch. "There's a great demand for that numberof the _Eagle_. Forty-six old subscribers have stopped their papers, but a hundred and twenty-seven new ones have come in. I can't guesswhere this will end. Are you going to the house?"

"I think I'd better, " said Mary. "If there's anything more I can do--"

"No, no, no! Don't spoil your visit, " said he, hastily. "You've hadwork enough. Now you must be free to rest a little, and meet yourfriends. "

He would not say he was afraid to have her in the _Eagle_ office, tostir up storms for him. But Mary made no objection--she was verywilling to give up the work. 

Mr. Murdoch came home in a more hopeful state of mind, but soon went tohis room and lay down. 

"My dear, " he said to his wife, "the paper's going right along; but I'mtoo much exhausted to see anybody. Tell 'em all I'm not well. "

Mary was uneasy about Jack, but she need not have worried. The momentthe train was in motion, he forgot even Deacon Abrams and Mrs. McNamarain the grand thought that he was actually on his way to the city. 

"This train's an express train, " he said to himself. "Doesn't she go!I said I'd get there some day, and now I'm really going! Hurrah forNew York! It's good I learned something about the streets--I'll knowwhat to do when I get there. "

He had nine dollars in his pocket for capital, but he knew more or lessof several businesses and trades. 

In the seat in front of him were two gentlemen, who must have beenrailway men, he thought, from what they said, and it occurred to Jackthat he would like to learn how to build a railway. 

The train stopped at last, after a long journey, and a well-dressed mangot in, came straight to Jack's seat, took the hitherto empty half ofit, and began to talk with the men in front as if he had come on boardfor the purpose. At first Jack paid little attention, but soon theybegan to mention places he knew. 

"So far, so good, " remarked the man at his side; "but we're going tohave trouble in getting the right of way through Crofield. We'll haveto pay a big price for that hotel if we can't use the street. "

"I think not, " said Jack, with a smile. "There isn't much hotel leftin Crofield, now. It was burned down last Sunday. "

"What?" exclaimed one of the gentlemen in front. "Are you fromCrofield?"

"I live there, " said Jack. "Your engineer was there about the time ofthe fire. The old bridge is down. I heard him say that your linewould cross just below it. "

The three gentlemen were all attention, and the one who had not beforespoken said:

"I know. Through the old Hammond property. "

"It used to belong to Mr. Hammond, " replied Jack, "but it belongs to myfather now. "

"Can you give me a list of the other owners of property?" asked therailway man with some interest. 

"I can tell you who owns every acre around Crofield, boundary lines andall, " answered Jack. "I was born there. You don't know about thepeople, though. They'll do almost anything to have the road there. Myfather will help all he can. He says the place is dead now. "

"What's his name?" asked the first speaker, with a notebook and apencil in his hand. 

"His is John Ogden. Mine's Jack Ogden. My father knows every man inthe county, " replied Jack. 

"Ogden, " said the gentleman in the forward seat, next the window. "Myname's Magruder; we three are directors in the new road. I'm adirector in this road. Are you to stay in Albany?"

"I go by the night boat to New York, " said Jack, almost proudly. 

"Can you stay over a day? We'll entertain you at the Delavan House ifyou'll give us some information. "

"Certainly; I'll be glad to, " said Jack; and so when the train stoppedat Albany, Jack was talking familiarly enough with the three railwaydirectors. 

Mary Ogden had a very clear idea that Mr. Murdoch preferred to make upthe next paper without any help from her, and even Mrs. Murdoch wasalmost glad to know that her young friend was to spend the next weekwith Mrs. Edwards. 

One peculiar occurrence of that day had not been reported at the_Eagle_ office, and it had consequences. The Committee of Six, who hadvisited the sanctum so threateningly, went away beaten, but recountedtheir experience. They did so in the office of the Mertonville Hotel, and Mike Flaherty had more than a little to say about "that gurril, "and about "the black eyes of her, " and the plucky way in which she hadfaced them. 

One little old gentleman whose eyes were still bright, in spite of hisgray hair, stood in the door and listened, with his hand behind his ear. 

"Gentlemen, " exclaimed this little old man, turning to the men behindhim. "Did you hear 'em? I guess I know what we ought to do. Come oninto Crozier's with me--all of you. We must give her a testimonial forher pluck. "

"Crozier's?" asked a portly, well-dressed man. "Nothing there butdry-goods. "

"Come, Jeroliman. You're a banker and you're needed. I dare you tocome!" said the little old man, jokingly, leading the way. 

Seven of them reached the dress-goods counter of the largest store inMertonville, and here the little old gentleman bought black silk for adress. 

"You brought your friends, I see, General Smith, " said the merchant, laughing. "One of your jokes, eh?"

"No joke at all, Crozier; a testimonial of esteem, "--and threegentlemen helped one another to tell the story. 

"I'll make a good reduction, for my share, " exclaimed the merchant, ashe added up the figures of the bill. "Will that do, General?"

"I'll join in, " promptly interposed Mr. Jeroliman, the banker, laughing. "I won't take a dare from General Smith. Come, boys. "

They were old enough boys, but they all "chipped in, " and GeneralSmith's dare did not cost him much, after all. 

Mary Ogden had the map of New York out upon the table that evening, andwas examining it, when there came a ring at the door-bell. 

"It's a boy from Crozier's with a package, " said Mrs. Murdoch; "andMary, it's for you!"

"For me?" said Mary, in blank astonishment. 

It was indeed addressed to her, and contained a short note:

"The girl who was not afraid of six angry men is requested to acceptthis silk dress, with the compliments of her admiring friends, "SEVEN OLD MEN OF MERTONVILLE. "

"Oh, but, Mrs. Murdoch, " said Mary, in confusion, "I don't know what tosay or do. It's very kind of them!--but ought I to take it?"

This testimonial pleased Mr. Murdoch even more than it pleased Mary. He insisted Mary should keep it, and she at last consented. 

But not even the new dress made Mary forget to wonder how Jack wasfaring. 

The lightning express made short work of the trip to Albany, and Jackwas glad of it, for he had not had any dinner. His new acquaintancesinvited him to accompany them to the Delavan House. 

As they left the station, Mr. Magruder took from his pocket a smallpamphlet. 

"Humph!" he said. "Guide-book to the New York City and Hudson River. I had forgotten that I had it. Don't you want it, Ogden? It'll besomething to read on the boat. "

"Won't you keep it?" asked Jack, hesitating. 

"Oh, no, " said Mr. Magruder. "I was going to throw it away. "

So Jack put the book into his pocket. It was a short walk to theDelavan House, but it was through more bustle and business, consideringhow quiet everybody was, Jack thought, than he ever saw before. Hewent with the rest to the hotel office, and heard Mr. Magruder givedirections about Jack's room and bill. 

"He's going to pay for me for one day, " Jack said to himself, "anduntil the evening boat goes to-morrow. "

"Ogden, " said Mr. Magruder, "I can't ask you to dine with us. It's aprivate party--have your dinner, and then wait for me here. "

"All right, " said Jack, and then he stood still and tried to think whatto do. 

"I must go to my room, now, and leave my satchel there, " he said tohimself. "I don't want anybody to know I never was in a big hotelbefore. "

He managed to get to his room without making a single blunder, but themoment he closed the door he felt awed and put down. 

"It's the finest room I was ever in in all my life!" he exclaimed. "They must have made a mistake. Perhaps I'll have a bedroom like thisin my own house some day. "

Jack made himself look as neat as if he had come out of a bandbox, before he went down-stairs. 

The dining-room was easily found, and he was shown to a seat at one ofthe tables, and a bill of fare was handed him; but that was only onemore puzzle. 

"I don't know what some of these are, " he said to himself. "I'll trythings I couldn't get in Crofield. I'll begin on those clams withlittle necks. "

So the waiter set before him a plate of six raw clams. 

That was a good beginning; for every one of them seemed to speak to himof the salt ocean. 

After that he went farther down the bill of fare and selected suchdishes as, he said, "nobody ever saw in Crofield. "

It was a grand dinner, and Jack was almost afraid he had been too longover it. 

He went out to the office and looked around, and asked the clerk if Mr. Magruder had been inquiring for him. 

"Not yet, Mr. Ogden, " said the clerk. "He is not yet through dinner. Did you find your room all right?"

"All right, " said Jack. "I'll sit down and wait for Mr. Magruder. "

It was an hour before the railway gentlemen returned. There were twiceas many of them now, however, and Mr. Magruder remarked:

"Come, Ogden, we won't detain you long. After that you can do what youlike. Thank you very much, too. "

Jack followed them into a private sitting-room, which seemed to him sorichly furnished that he really wished it had been plainer; but hefound the men very straightforward about their business. 

They all sat down around the table in the middle of the room. 

"We'll finish Ogden first, and let him go, " said Mr. Magruder, laughing. "Ogden, here's a map of Crofield and all the country fromthere to Mertonville. I want to ask some questions. "

He knew what to ask, too; but Jack's first remark was not an answer. 

"Your map's all wrong, " said he. "There isn't sand and gravel in thathill across the Cocahutchie, beyond the bridge. "

[Illustration: _"Your map's all wrong, " said Jack. _]

"What is there, then?" asked a gentleman, who seemed to be one of thecivil engineers, pettishly. "I say it's earth and gravel, mainly. "

"Clear granite, " said Jack. "Go down stream a little and you'll see. "

"All right, " exclaimed Mr. Magruder; "it will be costly cutting it, butwe shall want the stone. Go ahead now. You're just the man we needed. "

Jack thought so before they got through, for he had to tell all therewas to tell about the country, away down to Link's bridge. 

"Look here, " said one of them, quizzically. "Ogden, have you lived allyour life in every house in Crofield and in Mertonville and everywhere?You know even the melon-patches and hen-roosts!"

"Well, I know some of 'em, " said Jack, coloring and trying to join inthe general laugh. "I wouldn't talk so much, but Mr. Magruder asked meto stay over and tell what you didn't know. "

Then the laughter broke out again, and it was not at Jack's expense. 

They had learned all they expected from him, however, and Mr. Magruderthanked him very heartily. 

"I hope you'll have a good time to-morrow, " he said. "Look at thecity. I'll see that you have a ticket ready for the boat. "

"I didn't expect--" began Jack. 

"Nonsense, Ogden, " said Mr. Magruder. "We owe you a great deal, myboy. I wouldn't have missed knowing about that granite ledge. It'sworth something to us. The ticket will be handed you by the clerk. Good-evening, Jack Ogden. I hope I'll see you again, some day. "

"I hope so, " said Jack. "Good-evening, sir. Good-evening, gentlemen. "

Out he walked, and as the door closed behind him the engineer remarked:

"He ought to be a railway contractor. Brightest young fellow I've seenin a long time. "

Jack felt strange. The old, grown-up feeling seemed to have beenquestioned out of him, by those keen, peremptory, clear-headed businessmen, and he appeared to himself to be a very small, green, poor, uneducated boy, who hardly knew where he was going next, or what he wasgoing to do when he got there. "I don't know about that either, " hesaid to himself, when he reached the office. "I know I'm going to bed, next, and I believe that I'll go to sleep when I get there!"

Weary, very weary, and almost blue, in spite of everything, was JackOgden that night, when he crept into bed. 

"'Tisn't like that old cot in the _Eagle_ office, " he thought. "I'mglad it isn't to be paid for out of my nine dollars. "

Jack was tired all over, and in a few minutes he was sound asleep. 

He had gone to bed quite early, and he awoke with the first sunshinethat came pouring into his room. 

"It isn't time to get up, " he said. "It'll be ever so long beforebreakfast, but I can't stay here in bed. "

As he put on his coat something swung against his side, and he said:

"There! I'd forgotten that pamphlet. I'll see what's in it. "

The excitement of getting to the Delavan House, and the dinner and thetalk afterward, had driven the pamphlet out of his mind until then, buthe opened it eagerly. 

"Good!" he said, as he turned the leaves. "Maps and pictures, all theway down. Everything about the Hudson. Pictures of all the placesworth seeing in New York. Tells all about them. Where to go when youget there. Just what I wanted!"

Down he sat, and he came near forgetting his breakfast, so intenselywas he absorbed by that guide-book. He shut it up, at last, however, remarking: "I'll have breakfast, and then I'll go out and see Albany. It's all I've got to do till the boat leaves this evening. First cityI ever saw. " He ate with all the more satisfaction because he knewthat he was not eating up any part of his nine dollars, and it did notseem like so much money as it would have seemed in Crofield. He was inno haste, for he had no idea where to go, and did not mean to tellanybody how ignorant he was. He walked out of the Delavan House, andstrolled away to the right. Even the poorer buildings were far betterthan anything in Crofield or Mertonville, and he soon had a bit of asurprise. He reached a corner where a very broad street opened, at theright, and went up a steep hill. It was not a very long street, and itended at the crest of the hill, where there were some trees, and abovethem towered what seemed to be a magnificent palace of a building. 

"I'll go and see that, " said Jack. "I'll know what it is when I seethe sign, --or I'll ask somebody. "

His interest in that piece of architecture grew as he walked on up thehill; and he was a little warm and out of breath when he reached thestreet corner, at the top. Upon the corner, with his hands foldedbehind him and his hat pushed back on his head, stood a well-dressedman, somewhat above middle height, heavily built and portly, who seemedto be gazing at the same object. 

"Mister, " said Jack, "will you please tell me what that building is?"

"Certainly, " replied the gentleman, turning to him with a bow and asmile. "That's the New York State Miracle; one of the wonders of theworld. "

"The State Miracle?" said Jack. 

"What's your name?" asked the gentleman, with another bow and smile. 

"Ogden--Jack Ogden. "

"Yes, Jack Ogden; thank you. My name's 'Guvner. ' That's a miracle. It can never be finished. There's magic in it. Do you know what thatis?"

"That's one of the things I don't know, Mr. Guvner, " said Jack. 

"I don't know what it is either, " smiled Mr. Guvner. "When they builtit they put in twenty tons of pure, solid gold, my lad. Didn't youever hear of it? Where do you live when you're at home?"

"My home's in Crofield, " said Jack, not aware of a group of gentlemenand ladies who were standing still, a few yards away, looking at them. "I'm on my way to New York, but I wanted to see Albany. "

Mr. Guvner put a large hand on his shoulder, and smiled in his face. 

"Jack, my son, " he said, "go up and look all over the State Miracle. Many other States have other similar miracles. Don't stay in it toolong, though. "

"Is it unhealthy?" asked Jack, with a smile. 

The portly gentleman was smiling also. 

"No, no; not unhealthy, my boy; but they persuade some men to staythere a long time, and they're never the same men again. Come out assoon as you've had a good view of it. "

"I'll take a look at it any way, " said Jack, turning away. "Thank you, Mr. Guvner. I'll see the Miracle. "

He had gone but a few paces, and the others were stepping forward, whenhe was called by Mr. Guvner. 

"Jack, come back a moment!"

"What is it, Mr. Guvner?" asked Jack. 

"I'm almost sorry you're going to the city. It's as bad as the Capitolitself. You'll never be the same man again. Don't get to be the wrongkind of man. "

"I'll remember, Mr. Guvner, " said Jack, and he walked away again; butas he did so he heard a lady laughing, and a solemn-faced gentlemensaying:

"Good morning, Gov-er-nor. A very fine morning?"

"I declare!" exclaimed Jack, with almost a shiver. "I've been talkingwith the Governor of the State himself, and I'm going to see theCapitol. I couldn't have done that in Crofield. And I'll be in NewYork City to-morrow!"

CHAPTER X. 

THE STATE-HOUSE AND THE STEAMBOAT. 

Mary Ogden had three dresses, one quite pretty, but none were of silk. Aunt Melinda was always telling Mary what she ought not to wear at herage, and with hair and eyes as dark as hers. Mary felt very proud, therefore, when she saw on the table in her room the parcel containingthe black silk and trimmings. 

"It must have been expensive, " she said, and she unfolded it as ifafraid it would break. 

"What will mother say?" she thought. "And Aunt Melinda! I'm too youngfor it--I know I am!"

The whole Murdoch family arose early, and the editor, after looking atthe black silk, said that he felt pretty well. 

"So you ought, " said his wife. "You had more new subscribers yesterdaythan you ever had before in your life in any one day. "

"That makes me think, " said Mr. Murdoch. "I owe Mary Ogden fivedollars--there it is--for getting out that number of the _Eagle_. "

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Mary. "I did that, and Jack did it, only because--"

He put the bank-note into her hand. 

"I'd rather you'd take it, " he said. "You'll never be a good editortill you learn to work on a business basis. "

As he insisted, she put the bill into her pocket-book, thanking himgratefully. 

"I had two dollars when I came, " she thought, "and I haven't spent acent; but I may need something. Besides, I'll have to pay for makingup my new dress. "

But she was wrong. Mrs. Murdoch went out to see a neighbor afterbreakfast, and before noon it was certain that if seven old men ofMertonville had paid for the silk, at least seven elderly women couldbe found who were very willing to make it up. 

About that time Jack was walking up to the door of the Senate Chamber, in the Capitol, at Albany, after having astonished himself by longwalks and gazings through the halls and side passages. 

"It's true enough, " he said to himself. "The Governor's right. Nofellow could go through this and come out just as he came in. "

He understood about the "twenty tons of pure gold" in the building, butnevertheless he could not keep from looking all around after signs ofit. 

"There's plenty of gilding, " he said, "but it's very thin. It's allfinished, too. I don't see what more they could do, now the roof's onand it's all painted. He must have been joking when he said that. "

Jack roamed all over the Capitol, for the Legislature was not insession, and the building was open to sight-seers. There were many ofthem, and from visitors, workmen, and some boys whom he met, Jackmanaged to find out many interesting things. 

The Assembly Chamber seemed to him a truly wonderful room, and upon thefloor were several groups of people admiring it. 

He saw one visitor seat himself in the Speaker's chair. "There's roomin that chair for two or three small men, " said Jack; "I'll try it byand by. "

So he did. 

"The Speaker was a boy once, too, and so was the Governor, " he said tohimself aloud. 

"Yes, my boy, " said a lady, who was near enough to hear him; "so theywere. So were all the presidents, and some went barefoot and lived inlog-cabins. "

"Well, I've often gone barefoot, " said Jack, laughing. 

"Many boys go barefoot, but they can't all become governors, " she said, pleasantly. 

She looked at Jack for a moment, and then said with a smile, "You looklike a bright young man, though. Do you suppose you could ever beGovernor?"

"Perhaps I could, " he said. "It can't be harder to learn than anyother business. "

The lady laughed, and her friends laughed, and Jack arose from theSpeaker's chair and walked away. 

He had seen enough of that vast State House. It wearied him, there wasso much of it, and it was so fine. 

"To build this house cost twenty tons of gold!" he said, as he went outthrough the lofty doorway. "I wish I had some of it. I've kept mynine dollars yet, anyway. The Governor's right. I don't know what hemeant, but I'll never be just the same fellow again. "

It was so. But it was not merely seeing the Capitol that had changedhim. He was changing from a boy who had never seen anything outside ofCrofield and Mertonville, into a boy who was walking right out into theworld to learn what is in it. 

"I'll go to the hotel and write to father and mother, " he said; "and Ihave something to tell them. "

It was the first real letter he had ever written, and it seemed a greatthing to do--ten times more important than writing a composition, andalmost equal to editing the _Eagle_. 

"I'll just put in everything, " he thought, "just as it came along, andthey'll know what I've been doing. "

It took a long time to write the letter, but it was done at last, andwhen he put down his pen he exclaimed:

"Hard work always makes me hungry! I wonder if it isn't dinner-time?They said it was always dinner-time here after twelve o'clock. I'll gosee. " It was long after twelve when he went down to the office tostamp and mail his letter. 

"Mr. Ogden, " said the clerk, giving Jack an envelope, "here's a notefrom Mr. Magruder. He left--"

"Ogden, " said a deep, full voice just behind him, "didn't you staythere too long? I am told you sat in the Speaker's chair. "

Jack wheeled about, blushing crimson. The Governor was not standingstill, but was walking steadily through the office, surrounded by agroup of dignified men. It was necessary to walk with them in order toreply to the question, and Jack did so. 

"I sat there half a minute, " he answered. "I hope it didn't hurt me. "

"I'm glad you got out so soon, Jack, " replied the Governor approvingly. 

"But I heard also that you think of learning the Governor business, "went on the great man. "Now, don't you do it. It is not large pay, and you'd be out of work most of the time. Be a blacksmith, or acarpenter, or a tailor, or a printer. "

"Well, Governor, " said Jack, "I was brought up a blacksmith; and I'veworked at carpentering, and printing too; and I've edited a newspaper;but--"

There he was cut short by the laughter from those dignified men. 

"Good-bye, Jack, " said the Governor, shaking hands with him. "I hopeyou'll have a good time in the city. You'll be sent back to theCapitol some day, perhaps. "

Jack returned to the clerk's counter to mail his letter, and found thatgentleman looking at him as if he wondered what sort of a boy he mightbe. 

[Illustration: _The hotel clerk looked at Jack_. ]

"That young fellow knows all the politicians, " said the clerk to one ofthe hotel proprietors. "He can't be so countrified as he looks. "

After dinner, Jack returned to his room for a long look at theguide-book. He went through it rapidly to the last leaf, and thenthrew it down, remarking:

"I never was so tired! I'll take a walk around and see Albany a littlemore; and I'll not be sorry when the boat goes. I'd like to see Maryand the rest for an hour or two. I think they'd like to see me comingin, too. "

Jack sauntered on through street after street, getting a clearer ideaof what a city was. 

He walked so far that he had some difficulty in returning to the hotel, but finally he found it without asking directions. 

Soon after, Jack brought down his satchel, said good-bye to the verypolite clerk, and walked out. 

He had learned the way to the steamboat-wharf; and he had already takenone brief look at the river and the railway bridge. 

"There's the 'Columbia, '" he said, aloud, as he turned a street cornerand came in sight of her. "What a boat! Why, if her nose was at theMain Street corner, by the Washington Hotel, her rudder would behalf-way across the Cocahutchie!"

He walked the wharf, staring at her from end to end, before he went onboard. He had put Mr. Magruder's note into his pocket without readingit. 

"I won't open it here, " he had said then. "There's nothing in it but aticket. "

He found, however, that he must show the ticket at the gangway, and sohe opened the envelope. 

"Three tickets?" he said. "And two are in one piece. This one is fora stateroom. That's the bunk I'm to sleep in. Hulloo! Supper ticket!I have supper on board the steamer, do I? Well, I'm not sorry. I'llhave to hurry, too. It's about time for her to start. "

Jack went on board, and soon was hunting for his stateroom, almostbewildered by the rushing crowd in the great saloon. 

He had his key, and knew the number, but it seemed that there wereabout a thousand of the little doors. 

"One hundred and seventy-six is mine, " he said; "and I'm going to putaway my satchel and go on deck and see the river. Here it is at last. Why, it's a kind of little bedroom! It's as good as a floating hotel. Now I'm all right. "

Suddenly he was aware, with a great thrill of pleasure, that theColumbia was in motion. He left his satchel in a corner, locked thedoor of the stateroom behind him, and set out to find his way to thedeck. He went down-stairs and up-stairs, ran against people, and wasrun against by them; and it occurred to him that all the passengerswere hunting for something they could not find. 

"Looking for staterooms, I guess, " he remarked aloud; but he himselfshould not have been staring behind him, for at that moment he felt thewhack of a collision, and a pair of heavy arms grasped him. 

"What you looks vor yourself, poy? You knocks my breath out! You findsomebody you looks vor--eh?"

The tremendous man who held him was not tall, but very heavy, and had abroad face and long black beard and shaggy gray eyebrows. 

"Beg pardon!" exclaimed Jack, with a glance at a lady holding one ofthe man's long arms, and at two other ladies following them. 

"You vas got your stateroom?" asked his round-faced captorgood-humoredly. 

"Oh, yes!" said Jack. "I've got one. "

"You haf luck. Dell you vot, poy, it ees a beeg schvindle. Dey say'passage feefty cent, ' und you comes aboard, und you find it is choostso. Dot's von passage. Den it ees von dollar more to go in to supper, und von dollar to eat some tings, und von dollar to come out of supper, und some more dollars to go to sleep, und maybe dey sharges you moredollars to vake up in de morning. Dot is not all. Dey haf no moreshtateroom left, und ve all got to zeet up all night. Eh? How youlike dot, poy?"

Jack replied as politely as he knew how:

"Oh, you will find a stateroom. They can't be full. "

"Dey _ees_ full. Dey ees more as full. Dere vill be no room to sleepon de floor, und ve haf to shtand oop all night. How you likes dot, eh?"

The ladies looked genuinely distressed, and said a number of things toeach other in some tongue that Jack did not understand. He had beenproud enough of his stateroom up to that moment, but he felt his heartmelting. Besides, he had intended to sit up a long while to see theriver. 

"I can fix it, " he suddenly exclaimed. "Let the ladies take mystateroom. It's big enough. "

"Poy!" said the German solemnly, "dot is vot you run into my arms for. My name is Guilderaufenberg. Dis lady ees Mrs. Guilderaufenberg. Disees Mees Hildebrand. She's Mees Poogmistchgski, and she is a Bolishlady vis my wife. "

Jack caught all the names but the last, but he was not half sure aboutthat. He bowed to each. 

"Come with me; I'll show you the room, " he said. "Then I'm going outon deck. "

"Ve comes, " said the wide German; and the three ladies all tried toexpress their thanks at the same time, as Jack led the way. Jack wasproud of his success in actually finding his own door again. 

"I puts um all een, " said Mr. Guilderaufenberg; "den I valks mit you ondeck. Dose vommens belifs you vas a fine poy. So you vas, ven I dellsde troof. "

They all talked a great deal, and Jack managed to reduce the Polishlady's name to Miss "Podgoomski, " but he felt uneasily that he had leftout a part of it. Mrs. Guilderaufenberg and the others were loaded upwith more parcels and baggage than Jack had ever seen three women carry. 

"Dey dakes care of dot shtateroom, " said his friend. "Ve goes on deck. I bitty anypoddy vot dries to get dot shtateroom avay from Mrs. Guilderaufenberg and Mees Hildebrand and Mees Pod----ski;" but againJack had failed to hear that Polish lady's name. 

CHAPTER XI. 

DOWN THE HUDSON. 

Jack already felt well acquainted with Mr. Guilderaufenberg. 

The broad and bearded German knew all about steamboats, and found hisway out upon the forward deck without any difficulty. Jack had losthis way entirely in his first hunting for that spot, and he was glad tofind himself under the awning and gazing down the river. 

"Ve only shtays here a leetle vile, " said his friend. "Den ve goes andtakes de ladies down to eat some supper. Vas you hongry?"

Jack was not really hungry for anything but the Hudson, but he said hewould gladly join the supper-party. 

"I never saw the Hudson before, " he said. "I'd rather sit up than not. "

"I seet up all de vay to New York and not care, " said his friend. "Iseet up a great deal. My vife, dot ees Mrs. Guilderaufenberg, she keepa beeg boarding-house in Vashington. Dot ees de ceety to lif in! Vasyou ever in Vashington? No?"

"Never was anywhere, " said Jack. "Never was in New York--"

"Yon nefer vas dere? Den you petter goes mit me und Mrs. Guilderaufenberg. Dot ees goot. So! You nefer vas in Vashington. You nefer vas in New York. So! Den you nefer vas in Lonton? I vasdere. You lose youself in Lonton so easy. I lose myself twice vile Ivas dere. "

"You weren't lost long, I know, " said Jack, laughing at the droll shakeof the German's head. 

"No, I vas find. I vas shoost going to advertise myself ven I finds astreet I remember. Den I gets to my hotel. You nefer vas dere? Undyou nefer vas in Vashington. You come some day. Dot ees de ceety, mitde Capitol und de great men! Und you vas nefer in Paris, nor inBerlin, nor in Vienna, nor in Amsterdam? No? I haf all of dem seen, und dose oder cities. I dravel, but dere ees doo much boleece, so Icomes to dis country, vere dere ees few boleece. "

Jack was startled for a moment. The bland, good-humored face of hisGerman acquaintance had suddenly changed. His white teeth showedthrough his mushtaches, and his beard seemed to wave and curl as hespoke of the police. For one moment Jack thought of Deacon Abram andMrs. McNamara, of the dark room and the ropes and the window. 

"He may not have done anything, " he said to himself, aloud, "any morethan I did; and they were after me. "

"Dot ees not so!" Mr. Guilderaufenberg growled. "I dell dem de trooftoo mosh. Den I vas a volf, a vild peest, dot mus' be hoonted, und deyhoonted me; put I got avay. I vas in St. Beetersburg, vonce, vile deyhoont somevere else. Den I vas in Constantinople, mit de Turks--"

Jack's brain was in a whirl. He had read about all of those cities, and here was a man who had really been in them. It was even morewonderful than talking with the Governor or looking at the Hudson. 

But in a moment his new friend's face assumed a quieter expression. 

"Come along, " he said. "De ladies ees ready by dees time. Ve goes. Den I dells you some dings you nefer hear. "

He seemed to know all about the Columbia, for he led Jack straight tothe stateroom door, through all the crowds of passengers. 

"I might not have found it in less than an hour, " said Jack to himself. "They're waiting for us. I can't talk with them much. "

But he found out that Mrs. Guilderaufenberg spoke English with butlittle accent, Miss Hildebrand only knocked over a letter here andthere, and the Polish lady's fluent English astonished him so much thathe complimented her upon it. 

"Dot ees so, " remarked Mr. Guilderaufenberg. "She talks dem all sovell dey say she vas born dere. Dell you vat, my poy, ven you talksBolish or Russian, den you vas exercise your tongue so you shpeaks allde oder lankwitches easy. "

The ladies were in good humor, and disposed to laugh at anything, especially after they reached the supper-room; and Mrs. Guilderaufenberg at once took a strong interest in Jack because he hadnever been anywhere. 

For convenience, perhaps, the ladies frequently spoke to one another inGerman, but Jack, without understanding a word of it, listenedearnestly to what they were saying. 

They often, however, talked in English, and to him, and he learned thatthey had been making a summer-vacation trip through Canada, and werenow on their way home. It was evident that Mr. Guilderaufenberg was aman who did not lack money, and that none of the others were poor. Besides hearing them, Jack was busy in looking around the long, glittering supper-room of the Columbia, noticing how many differentkinds of people there were in it. They seemed to be of all nations, ages, colors, and kinds, and Jack would not have missed the sight foranything. 

"I'm beginning to see the world, " he said to himself, and then he hadto reply to Mrs. Guilderaufenberg for about the twentieth time:

"Oh, not at all. You're welcome to the stateroom. I'd rather sit upand look at the river than go to bed. "

"Den, Mr. Ogden, " she said, "you comes to Vashington, and you comes tomy house. I can den repay your kindness. You vill see senators, congressmen, generals, fine men--great men, in Vashington. "

After supper the party found seats under the awning forward, and for awhile Jack's eyes were so busy with the beauties of the Hudson that hisears heard little. 

The moonlight was very bright and clear, and showed the shores plainly. Jack found his memory of the guidebook was excellent. The villages andtowns along the shores were so many collections of twinkling, changingglimmers, and between them lay long reaches of moonshine and shadow. 

"I'd like to write home about it, " thought Jack, "but I couldn't beginto tell 'em how it looks. "

Jack was not sorry when the three ladies said good-night. He had neverbefore been so long upon his careful good behavior in one evening, andit made him feel constrained, till he almost wished he was back inCrofield. 

"Mr. Guilderaufenberg, " he said as soon as they were alone, "this isthe first big river I ever saw. "

"So?" said the German. "Den I beats you. I see goot many rifers, venI drafels. Dell you vat, poy; verefer dere vas big rifers, anyvere, dere vas mosh fighting. Some leetle rifer do choost as vell, sometimes, but de beeg rifers vas alvays battlefields. "

"Not the Hudson?" said Jack inquiringly. 

"You ees American poy, " said the German; "you should know de heestoryof your country. Up to Vest Point, de Hudson vas full of fights. Allalong shore, too. I vas on de Mississippi, and it is fights all de vaydown to his mout'. So mit some oder American rifers, but de vorst ofall is the Potomac, by Vashington. Eet ees not so fine as de Hudson, but eet is battle-grounds all along shore. I vas on de Danube, and eetees vorse for fights dan de Potomac. I see so many oder rifers, allofer, eferyvere, but de fighting rifer of de vorld is de Rhine. It isso fine as de Hudson, and eet ees even better looking by day. --Ve getsinto de Caatskeel Mountains now. Look at dem by dis moonlight, and youees like on de Rhine. You see de Rhine some day, and ven you comes toVashington you see de Potomac. "

On, on, steamed the Columbia, with what almost seemed a slow motion, itwas so ponderous, dignified, and stately, while the moonlit heights andhollows rolled by on either hand. On, at the same time, went Mr. Guilderaufenberg with his stories of rivers and cities and countriesthat he had seen, and of battles fought along rivers and across them. Then, suddenly, the gruff voice grew deep and savage, like the growl ofan angry bear, and he exclaimed:

"I haf seen some men, too, of de kind I run avay from--"

"Policemen?" said Jack. 

"Yah; dat is de name I gif dem, " growled the angry German. "De Tsar ofRussia, I vas see him, and he vas noding but a chief of boleece. Deold Kaiser of Germany, he vas a goot man, but he vas too mosh chief ofboleece. So vas de Emperor of Austria; I vas see him. So vas deSultan of Turkey, but he vas more a humpug dan anyting else. Dere eesleetle boleece in Turkey. I see de Emperor Napoleon before he toombledown. He vas noding but a boleeceman. I vas so vild glad ven he comesdown. De leetle kings, I care not so mosh for. You comes toVashington, and I show you some leetle kings--" and Mr. Guilderaufenberg grew good-humored and began to laugh. 

"What kind of kings?" asked Jack. 

"Leetle congressman dot is choost come de first time, und leetle beegman choost put into office. Dey got ofer it bretty soon, und de fun isgone. "

There was a long silence after that. The broad German sat in anarm-chair, and pretty soon he slipped forward a little with his kneesvery near the network below the rail of the Columbia. Then Jack hearda snore, and knew that his traveler friend was sound asleep. 

[Illustration: _His traveler friend was sound asleep_. ]

"I wish I had a chair to sleep on, instead of this campstool, " thoughtJack. "I'll have a look all around the boat and come back. "

It took a long while to see the boat, and the first thing he discoveredwas that a great many people had failed to secure staterooms or berths. They sat in chairs, and they lounged on sofas, and they were curled upon the floor; for the Columbia had received a flood of tourists whowere going home, and a large part of the passengers of another boatthat had been detained on account of an accident at Albany; so thesteamer was decidedly overcrowded. 

"There are more people aboard, " thought Jack, "than would make two suchvillages as Crofield, unless you should count in the farms and farmers. I'm glad I came, if it's only to know what a steamboat is. I haven'tspent a cent of my nine dollars yet, either. "

Here and there he wandered, until he came out at the stern, and had alook at the foaming wake of the boat, and at the river and the heightsbehind, and at the grand spectacle of another great steamboat, full oflights, on her way up the river. He had seen any number of smallerboats, and of white-sailed sloops and schooners, and now, along theeastern bank, he heard and saw the whizzing rush of several railwaytrains. 

"I'd rather be here, " he thought. "The people there can't see half somuch as I can. "

Not one of them, moreover, had been traveling all over the world withMr. Guilderaufenberg, and hearing and about kings and their "police. "

Getting back to his old place was easier, now that he began tounderstand the plan of the Columbia; but, when Jack returned, hiscamp-stool was gone, and he had to sit down on the bare deck or tostand up. He did both, by turns, and he was beginning to feel veryweary of sight-seeing, and to wish that he were sound asleep, or thatto-morrow had come. 

"It's a warm night, " he said to himself, "and it isn't so very dark, even now the moon has gone down. Why--it's getting lighter! Is itmorning? Can we be so near the city as that?"

There was a growing rose-tint upon a few clouds in the western sky, asthe sun began to look at them from below the range of heights, eastward, but the sun had not yet risen. 

Jack was all but breathless. He walked as far forward as he could go, and forgot all about being sleepy or tired. 

"There, " he said, after a little, "those must be the Palisades. "

Out came his guide-book, and he tried to fit names to the places alongshore. 

"More sailing-vessels, " he said, "and there goes another train. Wemust be almost there. "

He was right, and he was all one tingle of excitement as the Columbiaswept steadily on down the widening river. 

There came a pressure of a hand upon his shoulder. 

"Goot-morning, my poy. De city ees coming. How you feels?"

"First-rate, " said Jack. "It won't be long, now, will it?"

"You wait a leetle. I sleep some. It vas a goot varm night. Devarmest night I efer had vas in Egypt, and de coldest vas in Moscow. De shtove it went out, and ve vas cold, I dell you, dill dot shtove vaskindle up again! Dere vas dwenty-two peoples in dot room, and dot safeus. Ye keep von another varm. Dot ees de trouble mit Russia. Definest vedder in all the vorlt is een America, --and dere ees morevedder of all kinds. "

On, on, and now Jack's blood tingled more sharply, to his very fingersand toes, for they swept beyond Spuyten Duyvil Creek, which his friendpointed out, and the city began to make its appearance. 

"It's on both sides, " said Jack. "No, that's New Jersey"--and he readthe names on that side from his guidebook. 

Masts, wharves, buildings, and beyond them spires, and--and Jack grewdizzy trying to think of that endless wilderness of streets and houses. He heard what Mr. Guilderaufenberg said about the islands in theharbor, the forts, the ferries, and yet he did not hear it plainly, because it was too much to take in all at once. 

"Now I brings de ladies, " said Mr. Guilderaufenberg, "an' ve eatsbreakfast, ven ve all gets to de Hotel Dantzic. Come!"

Jack took one long, sweeping look at the city, so grand and sobeautiful under the newly risen sun, and followed. 

At that same hour a dark-haired girl sat by an open window in thevillage of Mertonville. She had arisen and dressed herself, early asit was, and she held in her hand a postal-card, which had arrived forher from Albany the night before. 

"By this time, " she said, "Jack is in the city. Oh, how I wish I werewith him!"

She was silent after that, but she had hardly said it before one of twosmall boys, who had been pounding one another with pillows in a verysmall bedroom in Crofield, suddenly threw his pillow at the other, andexclaimed:

"I s'pose Jack's there by this time, Jimmy!"

CHAPTER XII. 

IN A NEW WORLD. 

Jack Ogden stood like a boy in a dream, as the "Columbia" sweptgracefully into her dock and was made fast. Her swing about was helpedby the outgoing tide, that foamed and swirled around the projectingpiers. 

A hurrying crowd of people was thronging out of the "Columbia, " butJack's German friend did not join them. 

"De ceety vill not roon avay, " he said, calmly. "You comes mit me. "

They went to the cabin for the ladies, and Jack noticed how muchbaggage the rest were carrying. He took a satchel from MissHildebrand, and then the Polish lady, with a grateful smile, allowedhim to take another. 

"Dose crowds ees gone, " remarked Mr. Guilderaufenberg. "Ve haf ourchances now. "

Afterward, Jack had a confused memory of walking over a wide gang-plankthat led into a babel. Miss Hildebrand held him by his left arm whilethe two other ladies went with Mr. Guilderaufenberg. They came outinto a street, between two files of men who shook their whips, shouted, and pointed at a line of carriages. Miss Hildebrand told Jack thatthey could reach their hotel sooner by the elevated railway. 

"He look pale, " she thought, considerately. "He did not sleep allnight. He never before travel on a steamboat!"

Jack meanwhile had a new sensation. 

"This is the city!" he was saying to himself. "I'm really here. Thereare no crowds, because it's Sunday, --but then!"

After walking a few minutes they came to a corner, where Mr. Guilderaufenberg turned and said to Jack:

"Dees ees Proadvay. Dere ees no oder street in de vorlt dat ees solong. Look dees vay und den look dat vay! So! Eh? Dot ees Proadvay. Dere ees no oder city in de vorlt vere a beeg street keep Soonday!"

It was indeed a wonderful street to the boy from Crofield, and he feltthe wonder of it; and he felt the wonder of the Sunday quiet and of theclosed places of business. 

[Illustration: _On Broadway, at last!_]

"There's a policeman, " he remarked to Mr. Guilderaufenberg. 

"So!" said the German, smiling; "but he ees a beople's boleeceman. Eefhe vas a king's boleeceman, I vas not here. I roon avay, or I vas lockup. Jack, ven you haf dodge some king's boleecemen, like me, you vishyou vas American, choost like me now, und vas safe!"

"I believe I should, " said Jack, politely; but his head was not stillfor an instant. His eyes and his thoughts were busily at work. He hadexpected to see tall and splendid buildings, and had even dreamed ofthem. How he had longed and hoped and planned to get to this veryplace! He had seen pictures of the city, but the reality wasnevertheless a delightful surprise. 

Miss Hildebrand pointed out Trinity Church, and afterward St. Paul's. 

"Maybe I'll go to one of those big churches, to-day, " said Jack. 

"Oh, no, " said Miss Hildebrand. "You find plenty churches up-town. Not come back so far. "

"I shall know where these are, any way, " Jack replied. 

After a short walk they came to City Hall Square. 

"There!" Jack exclaimed. "I know this place! It's just like thepictures in my guide-book. There's the Post-office, the CityHall, --everything!"

"Come, " said Mr. Guilderaufenberg, beginning to cross the street. "Vemust go ofer und take de elevated railvay. "

"Come along, Meester Jack Ogden, " added Mrs. Guilderaufenberg. 

"There are enough people here now, " said Jack, as they walkedalong--"Sunday or no Sunday!"

"Of course, " said Miss Hildebrand, pointing with a hand that lifted asmall satchel. "That's the elevated railway station over there, acrossboth streets. There, too, is where you go to the suspension bridge toBrooklyn, over the East River. You see, when we go by. You seeto-morrow. Not much, now. I am so hungry!"

"I want to see everything, " said Jack; "but I'm hungry, too. Why, we're going upstairs!"

In a minute more Jack was sitting by an open window of an elevatedrailway car. This was another entirely new experience, and Jack foundit hard to rid himself of the notion that possibly the wholelong-legged railway might tumble down or the train suddenly shoot offfrom the track and drop into the street. 

"Dees ees bretty moch American, " said Mr. Guilderaufenberg, as Jackstared out at the third-story windows of the buildings. "You nefer vashere before? So! Den you nefer feels again choost like now. You eesfery moch a poy. I dell you, dere is not soch railvays in Europe; Ivonce feel like you now. Dot vas ven I first come here. It vas notSoonday; it vas a day for de flags. I dell you vat it ees: ven dotAmerican feels goot, he hang out hees flag. Shtars und shtripes--Ilike dot flag! I look at some boleece, und den I like dot flag again, for dey vas not hoont, hoont, hoont, for poor Fritz vonGuilderaufenberg, for dot he talk too moch!"

"It's pretty quiet all along. All the stores seem to be closed, " saidJack, looking down at the street below. 

"Eet ees so shtill!" remarked Mr. Guilderaufenberg. "I drafel de vorltofer und I find not dees Soonday. In Europe, it vas not dere to keep. I dell you, ven dere ees no more Soonday, den dere ees no more America!So! Choost you remember dot, my poy, from a man dot vas hoonted allofer Europe!"

Jack was quite ready to believe Mr. Guilderaufenberg. He had been usedto even greater quiet, in Crofield, for after all there seemed to be agreat deal going on. 

The train they were in made frequent stops, and it did not seem long toJack before Mrs. Guilderaufenberg and the other ladies got up and beganto gather their parcels and satchels. Jack was ready when his friendsled the way to the door. 

"I'll be glad to get off, " he thought. "I am afraid Aunt Melinda wouldsay I was traveling on Sunday. "

The conductor threw open the car door and shouted, and Mr. Guilderaufenberg hurried forward exclaiming: "Come! Dees ees ourstation!"

Jack had taken even more than his share of the luggage; and now his armwas once more grasped by Miss Hildebrand. 

"I'll take good care of her, " he said to himself, as she pushed alongout of the cars. "All I need to do is to follow the rest. "

He did not understand what she said to the others in German, but itwas: "I'll bring Mr. Ogden. He will know how to look out for himself, very soon. "

She meant to see him safely to the Hotel Dantzic, that morning; and thenext thing Jack knew he was going down a long flight of stairs, to thesidewalk, while Miss Hildebrand was explaining that part of the citythey were in. Even while she was talking, and while he was looking inall directions, she wheeled him suddenly to the left, and they came toa halt. 

"Hotel Dantzic, " read Jack aloud, from the sign. "It's a tallbuilding; but it's very thin. "

The ladies went into the waiting-room, while Jack followed Mr. Guilderaufenberg into the office. The German was welcomed by theproprietor as if he were an old acquaintance. 

A moment afterward, Mr. Guilderaufenberg turned away from the desk andsaid to Jack:

"My poy, I haf a room for you. Eet ees high oop, but eet ees goot; undyou bays only feefty cent a day. You bay for von veek, now. You puysvot you eats vere you blease in de ceety. "

The three dollars and a half paid for the first week made the firstbreak in Jack's capital of nine dollars. 

"Any way, " he thought, when he paid it, "I have found a place to sleepin. Money'll go fast in the city, and I must look out. I'll put mybaggage in my room and then come down to breakfast. "

"You breakfast mit us dees time, " said Mr. Guilderaufenberg, kindly. "Den you not see us more, maybe, till you comes to Vashington. "

Jack got his key and the number of his room and was making his way tothe foot of a stairway when a very polite man said to him:

"This way, sir. This way to the elevator. Seventh floor, sir. "

Jack had heard and read of elevators, but it was startling to ride inone for the first time. It was all but full when he got in, and afterit started, his first thought was:

"How it's loaded! What if the rope should break!"

It stopped to let a man out, and started and stopped again and again, but it seemed only a few long, breathless moments before the man incharge of it said; "Seventh, sir!"

The moment Jack was in his room he exclaimed:

"Isn't this grand, though? It's only about twice as big as thatstateroom on the steamboat. I can feel at home here. "

It was a pleasant little room, and Jack began at once to make ready forbreakfast. 

He was brushing his hair when he went to the window, and as he lookedout he actually dropped the brush in his surprise. 

"Where's my guide-book?" he said. "I know where I am, though. Thatmust be the East River. Away off there is Long Island. Looks as if itwas all city. Maybe that is Brooklyn, --I don't know. Isn't this ahigh house? I can look down on all the other roofs. Jingo!"

He hurried through his toilet, meanwhile taking swift glances out ofthe window. When he went out to the elevator, he said to himself:

"I'll go down by the stairs some day, just to see how it seems. Astorm would whistle like anything, round the top of this building!"

When he got down, Mr. Guilderaufenberg was waiting for him, and theparty of ladies went in to breakfast, in a restaurant which occupiednearly all of the lower floor of the hotel. 

"I understand, " said Jack, good-humoredly, in reply to an explanationfrom Miss Hildebrand. "You pay for just what you order, and no more, and they charge high for everything but bread. I'm beginning to learnsomething of city ways. "

During all that morning, anybody who knew Jack Ogden would have had tolook at him twice, he had been so quiet and sedate; but the old, self-confident look gradually returned during breakfast. 

"Ve see you again at supper, " said Mr. Guilderaufenberg, as they arose. "Den ve goes to Vashington. You valks out und looks about. You easyfinds your vay back. Goot-bye till den. "

Jack shook hands with his friends, and walked out into the street. 

"Well, here I am!" he thought. "This is the city. I'm all alone init, too, and I must find my own way. I can do it, though. I'm gladit's Sunday, so that I needn't go straight to work. "

At that moment, the nine o'clock bells were ringing in two woodensteeples in the village of Crofield; but the bell of the third steeplewas silent, down among the splinters of what had been the pulpit of itsown meeting-house. The village was very still, but there was somethingpeculiar in the quiet in the Ogden homestead. Even the children wentabout as if they missed something or were listening for somebody theyexpected. 

There were nine o'clock bells, also, in Mertonville, and there was aring at the door-bell of the house of Mr. Murdoch, the editor. 

"Why, Elder Holloway!" exclaimed Mrs. Murdoch, when she opened thedoor. "Please to walk in. "

"Thank you, Mrs. Murdoch, but I can't, " he said, speaking as ifhurried, "Please tell Miss Ogden there's a class of sixteen girls inour Sunday school, and the teacher's gone; and I've taken the libertyof promising for her that she'll take charge of it. "

"I'll call her, " said Mrs. Murdoch. 

"No, no, " replied the elder. "Just tell her it's a nice class, andthat the girls expect her to come, and we'll be ever go much obliged toher. Good-morning!"--and he was gone. 

"Oh, Mrs. Murdoch!" exclaimed Mary, when the elder's message was given. "I can't! I don't know them! I suppose I ought; but I'd have said no, if I had seen him. "

The elder had thought of that, perhaps, and had provided against anyrefusal by retreating. As he went away he said to himself:

"She can do it, I know; if she does, it'll help me carry out my plan. "

He looked, just then, as if it were a very good plan, but he did notreveal it. 

Mary Ogden persuaded Mrs. Murdoch to take her to another church thatmorning, so that she need not meet any of her new class. 

"I hope Jack will go to church in the city, " she said; and her mothersaid the same thing to Aunt Melinda over in Crofield. 

Jack could not have given any reason why his feet turned westward, buthe went slowly along for several blocks, while he stared at the rows ofbuildings, at the sidewalks, at the pavements, and at everything else, great and small. He was actually leaving the world in which he hadbeen brought up--the Crofield world--and taking a first stroll aroundin a world of quite another sort. He met some people on the streets, but not many. 

"They're all getting ready for church, " he thought, and his nextthought was expressed aloud. 

"Whew! what street's this, I wonder?"

He had passed row after row of fine buildings, but suddenly he hadturned into a wide avenue which seemed a street of palaces. Forward hewent, faster and faster, staring eagerly at one after another of thoseelegant mansions of stone, of marble, or of brick. 

"See here, Johnny, " he suddenly heard in a sharp voice close to him, "what number do you want?"

"Hallo, " said Jack, halting and turning. "What street's this?"

He was looking up into the good-natured face of a tall man in a neatblue uniform. 

"What are you looking for?" began the policeman again. But, withoutwaiting for Jack's answer, he went on, "Oh, I see! You're a greenylookin' at Fifth Avenue. Mind where you're going, or you'll run intosomebody!"

"Is this Fifth Avenue?" Jack asked. "I wish I knew who owned thesehouses. "

"You do, do you?" laughed the man in blue. "Well, I can tell you someof them. That house belongs to--" and the policeman went on givingname after name, and pointing out the finest houses. 

Some of the names were familiar to Jack. He had read about these menin newspapers, and it was pleasant to see where they lived. 

"See that house?" asked the policeman, pointing at one of the finestresidences. "Well, the man that owns it came to New York as poor asyou, maybe poorer. Not quite so green, of course! But you'll soon getover that. See that big house yonder, on the corner? Well, the cashfor that was gathered by a chap who began as a deck-hand. Most of thebig guns came up from nearly nothing. Now you walk along and look out;but mind you don't run over anybody. "

"Much obliged, " said Jack, and as he walked on, he kept his eyes open, but his thoughts were busy with what the policeman had told him. 

That was the very idea he had while he was in Crofield. That was whathad made him long to break away from the village and find his way tothe city. His imagination had busied itself with stories of poorboys, --as poor and green as he, scores of them, --born and brought up incountry homes, who, refusing to stay at home and be nobodies, hadbecome successful men. All the great buildings he saw seemed to tellthe same story. Still he did say to himself once:

"Some of their fathers must have been rich enough to give them a goodstart. Some were born rich, too. I don't care for that, though. Idon't know as I want so big a house. I am going to get along somehow. My chances are as good as some of these fellows had. "

Just then he came to a halt, for right ahead of him were open grounds, and beyond were grass and trees. To the right and left were buildings. 

"I know what this is!" exclaimed Jack. "It must be Central Park. Someday I'm going there, all over it. But I'll turn around now, and find aplace to go to church. I've passed a dozen churches on the way. "

CHAPTER XIII. 

A WONDERFUL SUNDAY. 

When Jack turned away from the entrance to Central Park, he found muchof the Sunday quiet gone. It was nearly half-past ten o'clock; thesidewalks were covered with people, and the street resounded with therattle of carriage-wheels. 

There was some uneasiness in the mind of the boy from Crofield. Thepoliceman had impressed upon Jack the idea that he was not at home inthe city, and that he did not seem at home there. He did not know onechurch from another, and part of his uneasiness was about how citypeople managed their churches. Perhaps they sold tickets, he thought;or perhaps you paid at the door; or possibly it didn't cost anything, as in Crofield. 

[Illustration: _"How would he get in?"_]

"I'll ask, " he decided, as he paused in front of what seemed to him avery imposing church. He stood still, for a moment, as the steadyprocession passed him, part of it going by, but much of it turning intothe church. 

"Mister--, " he said bashfully to four well-dressed men in quicksuccession; but not one of them paused to answer him. Two did not somuch as look at him, and the glances given him by the other two madehis cheeks burn--he hardly knew why. 

"There's a man I'll try, " thought Jack. "I'm getting mad!" The man ofwhom Jack spoke came up the street. He seemed an unlikely subject. Hewas so straight he almost leaned backward; he was rather slender thanthin; and was uncommonly well dressed. In fact, Jack said to himself:"He looks as if he had bought the meeting-house, and was not pleasedwith his bargain. "

Proud, even haughty, as was the manner of the stranger, Jack steppedboldly forward and again said:

"Mister?"

"Well, my boy, what is it?"

The response came with a halt and almost a bow. 

"If a fellow wished to go to this church, how would he get in?" askedJack. 

"Do you live in the city?" There was a frown of stern inquiry on thebroad forehead; but the head was bending farther forward. 

"No, " said Jack, "I live in Crofield. "

"Where's that?"

"Away up on the Cocahutchie River. I came here early this morning. "

"What's your name?"

"John Ogden. "

"Come with me, John Ogden. You may have a seat in my pew. Come. "

Into the church and up the middle aisle Jack followed his leader, witha sense of awe almost stifling him; then, too, he felt drowned in thethunderous flood of music from the organ. He saw the man stop, open apew-door, step back, smile and bow, and then wait until the boy fromCrofield had passed in and taken his seat. 

"He's a gentleman, " thought Jack, hardly aware that he himself hadbowed low as he went in, and that a smile of grim approval had followedhim. 

In the pew behind them sat another man, as haughty looking, but justnow wearing the same kind of smile as he leaned forward and asked in anaudible whisper:

"General, who's your friend?"

"Mr. John Ogden, of Crofield, away up on the Cookyhutchie River. Inetted him at the door, " was the reply, in the same tone. 

"Good catch?" asked the other. 

"Just as good as I was, Judge, forty years ago. I'll tell you how thatwas some day. "

"Decidedly raw material, I should say. "

"Well, so was I. I was no more knowing than he is. I remember what itis to be far away from home. "

The hoarse, subdued whispers ceased; the two gentle men looked grim andsevere again. Then there was a grand burst of music from the organ, the vast congregation stood up, and Jack rose with them. 

He felt solemn enough, there was no doubt of that; but what he said tohimself unconsciously took this shape:

"Jingo! If this isn't the greatest going to church _I_ ever did! Hearthat voice! The organ too--what music! Don't I wish Molly was here!I wish all the family were here. "

The service went on and Jack listened attentively, in spite of a strongtendency in his eyes to wander among the pillars to the galleries, upinto the lofty vault above him, or around among the pews full ofpeople. He knew it was a good sermon and that the music was good, singing and all--especially when the congregation joined in "OldHundred" and another old hymn that he knew. Still he had an increasingsense of being a very small fellow in a very large place. When heraised his head, after the benediction, he saw the owner of the pewturn toward him, bow low, and hold out his hand. Jack shook hands, ofcourse. 

"Good-morning, Mr. Ogden, " said the gentleman gravely, with almost afrown on his face, but very politely, and then he turned and walked outof the pew. Jack also bowed as he shook hands, and said, "Good-morning. Thank you, sir. I hope you enjoyed the sermon. "

"General, " said the gentleman in the pew behind them, "pretty good forraw material. Keep an eye on him. "

"No, I won't, " said the general. "I've spoiled four or five in thatvery way. "

"Well, I believe you're right, " said the judge, after a moment. "It'sbest for that kind of boy to fight his own battles. I had to. "

"So did I, " said the general, "and I was well pounded for a while. "

Jack did not hear all of the conversation, but he had a clear idea thatthey were talking about him; and as he walked slowly out of the church, packed in among the crowd in the aisle, he had a very rosy face indeed. 

Jack had in mind a thought that had often come to him in the church atCrofield, near the end of the sermon:--he was conscious that it wasdinner-time. 

Of course he thought, with a little homesickness, of the homedinner-table. 

"I wish I could sit right down with them, " he thought, "and tell themwhat Sunday is in the city. Then my dinner wouldn't cost me a centthere, either. No matter, I'm here, and now I can begin to make moremoney right away. I have five dollars and fifty cents left anyway. "

Then he thought of the bill of fare at the Hotel Dantzic, and many ofthe prices on it, and remembered Mr. Guilderaufenberg's instructionsabout going to some cheaper place for his meals. 

"I didn't tell him that I had only nine dollars, " he said to himself, "but I'll follow his advice. He's a traveler. "

Jack had been too proud to explain how little money he had, but hisGerman friend had really done well by him in making him take the littleroom at the top of the Hotel Dantzic. He had said to his wife:

"Dot poy! Vell, I see him again some day. He got a place to shleep, anyhow, vile he looks around und see de ceety. No oder poy I efermeets know at de same time so moch and so leetle. "

With every step from the church door Jack felt hungrier, but he did notturn his steps toward the Hotel Dantzic. He walked on down to thelower part of the city, on the lookout for hotels and restaurants. Itwas not long before he came to a hotel, and then he passed another andanother; and he passed a number of places where the signs told him ofdinners to be had within, but all looked too fine. 

"They're for rich people, " he said, shaking his head, "like the peoplein that church. What stacks of money they must have? That organ maybecost more than all the meeting-houses in Crofield!"

After going a little farther Jack exclaimed;

"I don't care! I've just got to eat!"

He was getting farther and farther from the Hotel Dantzic, and suddenlyhis eyes were caught by a very taking sign, at the top of some neatsteps leading down into a basement:

"DINNER. ROAST BEEF. TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. "

"That'll do. " said Jack eagerly. "I can stand that. Roost beef aloneis forty cents at the Dantzic. "

Down he went and found himself in a wide comfortable room, containingtwo long dining tables, and a number of small oblong tables, and someround tables, all as neat as wax. It was a very pleasant place, and agreat many other hungry people were there already. 

Jack sat down at one of the small tables, and a waiter came to him atonce. 

"Dinner sir? Yessir. Roast beef, sir? Yessir. Vegetables?Potatoes? Lima-beans? Sweet corn?"

"Yes, please, " said Jack. "Beef, potatoes, beans, and corn?" and thewaiter was gone. 

It seemed to be a long time before the beef and vegetables came, butthey were not long in disappearing after they were on the table. 

The waiter had other people to serve, but he was an attentive fellow. 

"Pie sir?" he said, naming five kinds without a pause. 

"Custard-pie, " said Jack. 

"Coffee, sir? Yessir, " and he darted away again. 

"This beats the Hotel Dantzic all to pieces, " remarked Jack, as he wenton with his pie and coffee; but the waiter was scribbling somethingupon a slip of paper, and when it was done he put it down by Jack'splate. 

"Jingo!" said Jack in a horrified tone, a moment later. "What's this?'Roast beef, 25; potatoes, 10; Lima-beans, 10; corn, 10; bread, 5;coffee, 10; pie, 10: $0. 80. ' Eighty cents! Jingo! How like smoke itdoes cost to live in New York! This can't be one of the cheap placesMr. Guilderaufenberg meant. "

Jack felt much chagrined, but he finished his pie and coffee bravely. "It's a sell, " he said, "--but then it _was_ a good dinner!"

He went to the cashier with an effort to act as if it was an old storyto him. He gave the cashier a dollar, received his change, and turnedaway, as the man behind the counter remarked to a friend at his elbow:

"I knew it. He had the cash. His face was all right. "

"Clothes will fool anybody, " said the other man. 

Jack heard it, and he looked at the men sitting at the tables. 

"They're all wearing Sunday clothes, " he thought, "but some are nobetter than mine. But there's a difference. I've noticed it allalong. "

So had others, for Jack had not seen one in that restaurant who had onat all such a suit of clothes as had been made for him by the Crofieldtailor. 

"Four dollars and seventy cents left, " said Jack thoughtfully, as hewent up into the street; and then he turned to go down-town without anyreason for choosing that direction. 

An hour later, Mr. Gilderaufenberg and his wife and their friends werestanding near the front door of the Hotel Dantzic, talking with theproprietor. Around them lay their baggage, and in front of the doorwas a carriage. Evidently they were going away earlier than they hadintended. 

"Dot poy!" exclaimed the broad and bearded German. "He find us nothere ven he come. You pe goot to dot poy, Mr. Keifelheimer. "

"So!" said the hotel proprietor, and at once three other voices chimedin with good-bye messages to Jack Ogden. Mr. Keifelheimer responded:

"I see to him. He will come to Vashington to see you. So!"

Then they entered the carriage, and away they went. 

After walking for a few blocks, Jack found that he did not know exactlywhere he was. But suddenly he exclaimed:

"Why, if there isn't City Hall Square! I've come all the way downBroadway. "

He had stared at building after building for a time without thinkingmuch about them, and then he had begun to read the signs. 

"I'll come down this way again to-morrow, " he said. "It's good thereare so many places to work in. I wish I knew exactly what I would liketo do, and which of them it is best to go to. I know! I can do as Idid in Crofield. I can try one for a while, and then, if I don't likeit, I can try another. It is lucky that I know how to do 'mostanything. "

The confident smile had come back. He had entirely recovered from theshock of his eighty-cent expenditure. He had not met many people, allthe way down, and the stores were shut; but for that very reason he hadbad more time to study the signs. 

"Very nearly every kind of business is done on Broadway, " he said, "except groceries and hardware, --but they sell more clothing thananything else. I'll look round everywhere before I settle down; but Imust look out not to spend too much money till I begin to make some. "

"It's not far now, " he said, a little while after, "to the lower end ofthe city and to the Battery. I'll take a look at the Battery before Igo back to the Hotel Dantzic. "

Taller and more majestic grew the buildings as he went on, but he wasnot now so dazed and confused as he had been in the morning. 

"Here is Trinity Church, again, " he said. "I remember about that. Andthat's Wall Street. I'll see that as I come back; but now I'll goright along and see the Battery. Of course there isn't any batterythere, but Mr. Guilderaufenberg said that from it I could see the forton Governor's Island. "

Jack did not see much of the Battery, for he followed the left-handsidewalk at the Bowling Green, where Broadway turns into WhitehallStreet. He had so long been staring at great buildings whose veryheight made him dizzy, that he was glad to see beside them some whichlooked small and old. 

"I'll find my way without asking, " he remarked to himself. "I'm prettynear the end now. There are some gates, and one of them is open. I'llwalk right in behind that carriage. That must be the gate to theBattery. "

The place he was really looking for was at some distance to the right, and the carriage he was following so confidently, had a very differentdestination. 

The wide gateway was guarded by watchful men, not to mention twopolicemen, and they would have caught and stopped any boy who hadknowingly tried to do what Jack did so innocently. Their backs musthave been turned, for the carriage passed in, and so did Jack, withoutany one's trying to stop him. He was as bold as a lion about it, because he did not know any better. A number of people were at thesame time crowding through a narrower gateway at one side, and they mayhave distracted the attention of the gatemen. 

"I'd just as lief go in at the wagon-gate, " said Jack, and he did notnotice that each one stopped and paid something before going through. Jack went on behind the carriage. The carriage crossed what seemed toJack a kind of bridge housed over. Nobody but a boy straight fromCrofield could have gone so far as that without suspecting something;but the carriage stopped behind a line of other vehicles, and Jackwalked unconcernedly past them. 

"Jingo!" he suddenly exclaimed. "What's this? I do believe the end ofthis street is moving!"

He bounded forward, much startled by a thing so strange andunaccountable, and in a moment more he was looking out upon a greatexpanse of water, dotted here and there with canal-boats, ships, andsteamers. 

"Mister, " he asked excitedly of a little man leaning against a post, "what's this?"

"Have ye missed your way and got onto the wrong ferry-boat?" repliedthe little man gleefully. "I did it once myself. All right, my boy. You've got to go to Staten Island this time. Take it coolly. "

"Ferry-boat?" said Jack. "Staten Island? I thought it was the end ofthe street, going into the Battery!"

"Oh, you're a greenhorn!" laughed the little man "Well, it won't hurtye; only there's no boat back from the island, on Sunday, till aftersupper. I'll tell ye all about it. Where'd you come from?"

"From Crofield, " said Jack, "and I got here only this morning. "

The little man eyed him half-suspiciously for a moment, and then ledhim to the rail of the boat. 

"Look back there, " he said. "Yonder's the Battery. You ought to havekept on. It's too much for me how you ever got aboard of this 'ereboat without knowing it!" And he went on with a long string ofexplanations, of which Jack understood about half, with the help ofwhat he recalled from his guide-book. All the while, however, theywere having a sail across the beautiful bay, and little by little Jackmade up his mind not to care. 

"I've made a mistake and slipped right out of the city, " he said tohimself, "about as soon as I got in! But maybe I can slip back againthis evening. "

"About the greenest bumpkin I've seen for an age, " thought the littleman, as he stood and looked at Jack. "It'll take all sorts of blundersto teach him. He is younger than he looks, too. Anyway, this sailwon't hurt him a bit. "

That was precisely Jack's conclusion long before the swift voyage endedand he walked off the ferry-boat upon the solid ground of Staten Island. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES. 

When Jack Ogden left the Staten Island ferry-boat, he felt somewhat asif he had made an unexpected voyage to China, and perhaps might neverreturn to his own country. It was late in the afternoon, and he hadbeen told by the little man that the ferry-boat would wait an hour anda half before the return voyage. 

"I won't lose sight of her, " said Jack, thoughtfully. "No runningaround for me this time!"

He did not move about at all. He sat upon an old box, in front of aclosed grocery store, near the ferry-house, deciding to watch and waituntil the boat started. 

"Dullest time I ever had!" he thought; "and it will cost me six centsto get back. You have to pay something everywhere you go. I wish thatboat was ready to go now. "

It was not ready, and it seemed as if it never would be; meanwhile theCrofield boy sat there on the box and studied the ferry-boat business. He had learned something of it from his guide-book, but he understoodit all before the gates opened. 

He had not learned much concerning any part of Staten Island, beyondwhat he already knew from the map; but shortly after he had paid hisfare, he began to learn something about the bay and the lower end ofNew York. 

"I'm glad to be on board again, " he said, as he walked through the longcabin to the open deck forward. In a few minutes more he drew a longbreath and exclaimed:

"She's starting! I know I'm on the right boat, too. But I'm hungryand I wish I had something to eat. "

There was nothing to be had on board the boat, but, although hungry, Jack could see enough to keep him from thinking about it. 

"It's all city; and all wharves and houses and steeples, --every way youlook, " he said. "I'm glad to have seen it from the outside, after all. "

Jack stared, but did not say a word to anybody until the ferry-boat raninto its dock. 

"If I only had a piece of pie and a cup of coffee!" Jack was thinking, as he walked along by the wharves, ashore. Then he caught sight of thesmallest restaurant he had ever seen. It was a hand-cart with anawning over it, standing on a corner. A placard hanging from theawning read:

"Clams, one cent apiece; coffee, five cents a cup. "

"That's plain enough!" exclaimed Jack. "She can't put on a cent morefor anything. "

A stout, black-eyed woman stood behind a kind of table, at the end ofthe cart; and on the table there were bottles of vinegar andpepper-sauce, some crackers, and a big tin coffee-heater. 

[Illustration: _Coffee and clams. _]

"Clams?" she repeated. "Half-dozen, on the shell? Coffee? All right. "

"That's all I want, thank you, " said Jack, and she at once filled a cupfrom the coffee-urn and began to open shellfish for him. 

"These are the smallest clams I ever saw, " thought Jack; "but they'regood. "

They seemed better and better as he went on eating; and the womanwillingly supplied them. He drank his coffee and ate crackers freely, and he was just thinking that it was time for him to stop when theblack-eyed woman remarked, with an air of pride, "Nice and fresh, ain't they? You seem to like them, --thirteen's adozen; seventeen cents. "

"Have I swallowed a dozen already?" said Jack, looking at the pile ofshells. "Yes, ma'am, they're tiptop!"

After paying for his supper, there were only some coppers left, besidesfour one-dollar bills, in his pocket-book. 

"Which way's the Battery, ma'am?" Jack asked, as she began to openclams for another customer. 

"Back there a way. Keep straight on till you see it, " she answered;adding kindly, "It's like a little park; I didn't know you were fromthe country. "

"Pretty good supper, after all, " he said. "Cheap, too; but my money'sleaking away! Well, it isn't dark yet. I must see all I can before Igo to the hotel. "

He followed the woman's directions, and he was glad he had done so. Hehad studied his guide-book faithfully as to all that end of New York, and in spite of his recent blunder did not now need to ask anybodywhich was the starting place of the elevated railways and which wasCastle Garden, where the immigrants were landed. There were littlegroups of these foreigners scattered over the great open space beforehim. 

"They've come from all over the world, " he said, looking at group aftergroup. "Some of those men will have a harder time than I have hadtrying to get started in New York. "

It occurred to him, nevertheless, that he was a long way from Crofield, and that he was not yet at all at home in the city. 

"I know some things that they don't know, anyway--if I _am_ green!" hewas thinking. "I'll cut across and take a nearer look at CastleGarden--"

"Stop there! Stop, you fellow in the light hat! Hold on!" Jack heardsome one cry out, as he started to cross the turfed inclosures. 

"What do you want of me?" Jack asked, as he turned around. 

"Don't you see the sign there, 'Keep off the grass'? Look! You're onthe grass now! Come off! Anyway, I'll fine you fifty cents!"

Jack looked as the man pointed, and saw a little board on a short post;and there was the sign, in plain letters; and here before him was atall, thin, sharp-eyed, lantern-jawed young man, looking him fiercelyin the face and holding out his hand. 

"Fifty cents! Quick, now, --or go with me to the police station. "

Jack was a little bewildered for a moment. He felt like a cat in avery strange garret. His first thought of the police made him rememberpart of what Mr. Guilderaufenberg had told him about keeping away fromthem; but he remembered only the wrong part, and his hand wentunwillingly into his pocket. 

"Right off, now! No skulking!" exclaimed the sharp eyed man. 

"I haven't fifty cents in change, " said Jack, dolefully, taking adollar bill from his pocket-book. 

"Hand me that, then. I'll go and get it changed;" and the man reachedout a claw-like hand and took the bill from Jack's fingers, withoutwaiting for his consent. "I'll be right back. You stand right therewhere you are till I come--"

"Hold on!" shouted Jack. "I didn't say you could. Give me back thatbill!"

"You wait. I'll bring your change as soon as I can get it, " called thesharp-eyed man, as he darted away; but Jack's hesitation was over inabout ten seconds. 

"I'll follow him, anyhow!" he exclaimed; and he did so at a run. 

"Halt!"--it was a man in a neat gray uniform and gilt buttons who spokethis time; and Jack halted just as the fleeing man vanished into acrowd on one of the broad walks. 

"He's got my dollar!"

"Tell me what it is, quick!" said the policeman, with a suddenexpression of interest. 

Jack almost spluttered as he related how the fellow had collected thefine; but the man in gray only shook his head. 

"I thought I saw him putting up something, " he said. "It's well hedidn't get your pocket-book, too! He won't show himself here againto-night. He's safe by this time. "

"Do you know him?" asked Jack, greatly excited; but more than a littlein dread of the helmet-hat, buttons, and club. 

"Know him? 'Jimmy the Sneak?' Of course I do. He's only about twoweeks out of Sing Sing. It won't be long before he's back there again. When did you come to town? What's your name? Where'd you come from?Where are you staying? Do you know anybody in town?"

He had a pencil and a little blank-book, and he rapidly wrote outJack's answers. 

"You'll get your eyes open pretty fast, at this rate, " he said. "That's all I want of you, now. If I lay a hand on Jimmy, I'll knowwhere to find you. You'd better go home. If any other thief asks youfor fifty cents, you call for the nearest policeman. That's what we'rehere for. "

"A whole dollar gone, and nothing to show for it!" groaned Jack, as hewalked away. "Only three dollars and a few cents left! I'll walk allthe way up to the Hotel Dantzic, instead of paying five cents for a carride. I'll have to save money now. "

He felt more kindly toward all the policemen he met, and he was gladthere were so many of them. 

"The police at Central Park, " he remarked to himself, "and that fellowat the Battery, were all in gray, and the street police wear blue; butthey're a good-looking set of men. I hope they will nab Jimmy theSneak and get back my dollar for me. "

The farther he went, however, the clearer became his conviction thatdollars paid to thieves seldom come back; and that an evening walk ofmore than three miles over the stone sidewalks of New York is a longstroll for a very tired and somewhat homesick country boy. He caredless and less, all the way, how strangely and how splendidly thegas-lights and the electric lights lit up the tall buildings. 

"One light's white, " he said, "and the other's yellowish, and that'sabout all there is of it. Well, I'm not quite so green, for I knowmore than I did this morning!"

It was late for him when he reached the hotel, but it seemed to beearly enough for everybody else. Many people were coming and going, and among them all he did not see a face that he knew or cared for. The tired-out, homesick feeling grew upon him, and he walked verydolefully to the elevator. Up it went in a minute, and when he reachedhis room he threw his hat upon the table, and sat down to think overthe long and eventful day. 

[Illustration: _Jack is homesick. _]

"This is the toughest day's work I ever did! I'd like to see the folksin Crofield and tell 'em about it, though, " he said. 

He went to bed, intending to consider his plans for Monday, but he madeone mistake. He happened to close his eyes. 

The next thing he knew, there was a ray of warm sunshine striking hisface from the open window, for he had slept soundly, and it was nearlyseven o'clock on Monday morning. 

Jack looked around his room, and then sprang out of bed. 

"Hurrah for New York!" he said, cheerfully. "I know what to do now. I'm glad I'm here! I'll write a letter home, first thing, and thenI'll pitch in and go to work!"

He felt better. All the hopes he had cherished so long began to stirwithin him. He brushed his clothes thoroughly, and put on his bestnecktie; and then he walked out of that room with hardly a doubt thatall the business in the great city was ready and waiting for him tocome and take part in it. He went down the elevator, after a glance atthe stairway and a shake of his head. 

"Stairs are too slow, " he thought. "I'll try them some time when I amnot so busy. "

As he stepped out upon the lower floor he met Mr. Keifelheimer, theproprietor. 

"You come in to preakfast mit me, " he said. "I promise Mr. Guilderaufenberg and de ladies, too, I keep an eye on you. Someletters in de box for you. You get dem ven you come out. Come mit me. "

Jack was very glad to hear of his friends, what had become of them, andwhat they had said about him, and of course he was quite ready forbreakfast. Mr. Keifelheimer talked, while they were eating, in themost friendly and protecting way. Jack felt that he could speakfreely; and so he told the whole story of his adventures onSunday, --Staten Island, Jimmy the Sneak, and all. Mr. Keifelheimerlistened with deep interest, making appreciative remarks every now andthen; but he seemed to be most deeply touched by the account of theeighty-cent dinner. 

"Dot vas too much!" he said, at last. "It vas a schvindle! DoseBroadvay restaurants rob a man efery time. Now, I only charge youfeefty-five cents for all dis beautiful breakfast; and you haf had definest beefsteak and two cups of splendid coffee. So, you make moneyven you eat mit me!"

Jack could but admit that the Hotel Dantzic price was lower than theother; but he paid it with an uneasy feeling that while he must havemisunderstood Mr. Keifelheimer's invitation it was impossible to say so. 

"Get dose letter, " said the kindly and thoughtful proprietor. "Den youwrite in de office. It is better dan go avay up to your room. "

Jack thanked him and went for his mail, full of wonder as to how anyletters could have come to him. 

"A whole handful!" he said, in yet greater wonder, when the clerkhanded them out. "Who could have known I was here?Nine, --ten, --eleven, --twelve. A dozen!"

One after another Jack found the envelops full of nicely printed cardsand circulars, telling him how and where to find different kinds ofgoods. 

"That makes eight, " he said; "and every one a sell. But, --jingo!"

It was a blue envelope, and when he opened it his fingers came upon adollar bill. 

"Mr. Guilderaufenberg's a trump!" he exclaimed; and he added, gratefully, "I'd only about two dollars and a half left. He's onlywritten three lines. "

They were kindly words, however, ending with:

I have not tell the ladies; but you should be pay for the stateroom. 

I hope you have a good time. 

F. VON GUILDERAUFENBERG. 

The next envelope was white and square; and when it came open Jackfound another dollar bill. 

"She's a real good woman!" he said, when he read his name and thesewords:

I say nothing to anybody; but you should have pay for your stateroom. You was so kind. In haste, GERTRUDE VON GUILDERAUFENBERG. 

"I'll go and see them some day, " said Jack. 

He had opened the eleventh envelope, which was square and pink, and outcame another dollar bill. Jack read his own name again, followed by:

We go this minute. I have not told them. You should have pay for yourstateroom. Thanks. You was so kind. 

MARIE HILDEBRAND. 

"Now, if she isn't one of the most thoughtful women in the world!" saidJack; "and what's this?"

Square, gray, with an ornamental seal, was the twelfth envelope, andout of it came a fourth dollar bill, and this note:

For the stateroom. I have told not the others. With thanks of

DOLISKA POD----SKI. 

It was a fine, small, pointed, and wandering handwriting, and Jack invain strove to make out the letters in the middle of the Polish lady'sname. 

"I don't care!" he said. "She's kind, too. So are all the rest ofthem; and Mr. Guilderaufenberg's one of the best fellows I ever met. Now I've got over six dollars, and I can make some more right away. "

He pocketed his money, and felt more confident than ever; and he walkedout of the Hotel Dantzic just as his father, at home in Crofield, wasreading to Mrs. Ogden and Aunt Melinda and the children the letter hehad written in Albany, on Saturday. 

They all had their comments to make, but at the end of it the tallblacksmith said to his wife:

"There's one thing certain, Mary. I won't let go of any of that landtill after they've run the railway through it. "

"Land?" said Aunt Melinda. "Why, it's nothing but gravel. They can'tdo anything with it. "

"It joins mine, " said Mr. Ogden; "and I own more than an acre behindthe shop. We'll see whether the railroad will make any difference. Well, the boy's reached the city long before this!"

There was silence for a moment after that, and then Mr. Ogden went overto the shop. He was not very cheerful, for he began to feel that Jackwas really gone from home. 

In Mertonville, Mary Ogden was helping Mrs. Murdoch in her housework, and seemed to be disposed to look out of the window, rather than totalk. 

"Now, Mary, " said the editor's wife, "you needn't look so peaked, andfeel so blue about the way you got along with that class of girls--"

"Girls?" said Mary. "Why, Mrs. Murdoch! Only half of them wereyounger than I; they said there would be only sixteen, and there weretwenty-one. Some of the scholars were twice as old as I am, and onehad gray hair and wore spectacles!"

"I don't care, " said Mrs. Murdoch, "the Elder said you did well. Now, dear, dress yourself, and be ready for Mrs. Edwards; she's coming afteryou, and I hope you'll enjoy your visit. Come in and see me as oftenas you can and tell me the news. "

Mary finished the dishes and went upstairs, saying, "And they want meto take that class again next Sunday!"

CHAPTER XV. 

NO BOY WANTED. 

After leaving the Hotel Dantzic, with his unexpected supply of money, Jack walked smilingly down toward the business part of the city. For awhile he only studied signs and looked into great show-windows; and hebecame more and more confident as he thought how many different waysthere were for a really smart boy to make a fortune in New York. Hedecided to try one way at just about nine o'clock. 

"The city's a busy place!" thought Jack, as he walked along. "Somedifference between the way they rush along on Monday and the way theyloitered all day Sunday!"

He even walked faster because the stream of men carried him along. Itmade him think of the Cocahutchie. 

"I'll try one of these big clothing places, " he said, about nineo'clock. "I'll see what wages they're giving. I know something abouttailoring. "

He paused in front of a wide and showy-looking store on Broadway. Hedrew a long breath and went in. The moment he entered he wasconfronted by a very fat, smiling gentleman, who bowed and asked:

"What can we do for you, sir?"

"I'd like to know if you want a boy, " said Jack, "and what wages you'regiving. I know--"

"After a place? Oh, yes. That's the man you ought to see, " said thejocose floor-walker, pointing to a spruce salesman behind a counter, and winking at him from behind Jack. 

The business of the day had hardly begun, and the idle salesman saw thewink. Jack walked up to him and repeated his inquiry. 

"Want a place, eh? Where are you from? Been long in the business?"

Jack told him about Crofield, and about the "merchant tailors" there, and gave a number of particulars before the very dignified andsober-faced salesman's love of fun was satisfied; and then the salesmansaid:

"I can't say. You'd better talk with that man yonder. "

There was another wink, and Jack went to "that man, " to answer anotherstring of questions, some of which related to his family, and theSunday-school he attended; and then he was sent on to another man, andanother, and to as many more, until at last he heard a gruff voicebehind him asking, "What does that fellow want? Send him to me!"

Jack turned toward the voice, and saw a glass "coop, " as he called it, all glass panes up to above his head, excepting one wide, semicircularopening in the middle. The clerk to whom Jack was talking at thatmoment suddenly became very sober. 

"Head of the house!" he exclaimed to himself. "Whew! I didn't knowhe'd come;" Then he said to Jack: "The head partner is at thecashier's desk. Speak to him. "

Jack stepped forward, his cheeks burning with the sudden perceptionthat he had been ridiculed. He saw a sharp-eyed lady counting money, just inside the little window, but she moved away, and Jack wasconfronted by a very stern, white-whiskered gentleman. 

"What do you want?" the man asked. 

"I'd like to know if you'll hire another boy, and what you're paying?"said Jack, bravely. 

"No; I don't want any boy, " replied the man in the coop, savagely. "You get right out. "

"Tell you what you _do_ want, " said Jack, for his temper was risingfast, "you'd better get a politer set of clerks!"

"I will, if there is any more of this nonsense, " said the head of thehouse, sharply. "Now, that's enough. No more impertinence. "

Jack was all but choking with mortification, and he wheeled and marchedout of the store. 

"I wasn't afraid of him, " he thought, "and I ought to have spoken tohim first thing. I might have known better than to have asked thosefellows. I sha'n't be green enough to do that again. I'll ask thehead man next time. "

That was what he tried to do in six clothing-stores, one after another;but in each case he made a failure. In two of them, they said themanaging partner was out; and then, when he tried to find out whetherthey wanted a boy, the man he asked became angry and showed him thedoor. In three more, he was at first treated politely, and theninformed that they already had hundreds of applications. To enter thesixth store was an effort, but he went in. 

"One of the firm? Yes, sir, " said the floor-walker. "There he is. "

Only a few feet from him stood a man so like the one whose face hadglowered at him through that cashier's window in the first store thatJack hesitated a moment, but the clerk spoke out:

"Wishes to speak to you, Mr. Hubbard. "

"This way, my boy. What is it?"

Jack was surprised by the full, mellow, benevolent voice that came fromunder the white moustaches. 

"Do you want to hire a boy, sir?" he inquired. 

"I do not, my son. Where are you from?" asked Mr. Hubbard, with akindlier expression than before. 

Jack told him, and answered two or three other questions. 

"From up in the country, eh?" he said. "Have you money enough to gethome again?"

"I could get home, " stammered Jack, "but there isn't any chance for aboy up in Crofield. "

"Ten chances there for every one there is in the city, my boy, " saidMr. Hubbard. "One hundred boys here for every place that's vacant. You go home. Dig potatoes. Make hay. Drive cows. Feed pigs. Do_anything_ honest, but get out of New York. It's one greatpauper-house, now, with men and boys who can't find anything to do. "

"Thank you, sir, " said Jack, with a tightening around his heart. "ButI'll find something. You see if I don't--"

"Take my advice, and go home!" replied Mr. Hubbard, kindly. "Good-morning. "

"Good-morning, " said Jack, and while going out of that store he had thevividest recollections of all the country around Crofield. 

"I'll keep on trying, anyway, " he said. "There's a place for mesomewhere. I'll try some other trade. I'll do _anything_. "

So he did, until one man said to him:

"Everybody is at luncheon just now. Begin again by and by; but I'mafraid you'll find there are no stores needing boys. "

"I need some dinner myself, " thought Jack. "I feel faint. Mister, " headded aloud, "I must buy some luncheon, too. Where's a good place?"

He was directed to a restaurant, and he seated himself at a table andordered roast beef in a sort of desperation. 

"I don't care what it costs!" he said. "I've got some money yet. "

Beef, potatoes, bread and butter, all of the best, came, and were eatenwith excellent appetite. 

Jack was half afraid of the consequences when the waiter put a brightred check down beside his plate. 

"Thirty cents?" exclaimed he joyfully, picking it up. "Why, that's thecheapest dinner I've had in New York. "

"All right, sir. Come again, sir, " said the waiter, smiling; and thenJack sat still for a moment. 

"Six dollars, and, more too, " he said to himself; "and my room's paidfor besides. I can go right on looking up a place, for days and days, if I'm careful about my money. I mustn't be discouraged. "

He certainly felt more courageous, now that he had eaten dinner, and heat once resumed his hunt for a place; but there was very little left ofhis smile. He went into store after store with almost the same resultin each, until one good-humored gentleman remarked to him:

"My boy, why don't you go to a Mercantile Agency?"

"What's that?" asked Jack, and the man explained what it was. 

"I'll go to one right away, " Jack said hopefully. 

"That's the address of a safe place, " said the gentleman writing a fewwords. "Look out for sharpers, though. Plenty of such people in thatbusiness. I wish you good luck. "

Before long Jack Ogden stood before the desk of the "Mercantile Agency"to which he had been directed, answering questions and registering hisname. He had paid a fee of one dollar, and had made the office-clerklaugh by his confidence. 

"You seem to think you can take hold of nearly anything, " he said. "Well, your chance is as good as anybody's. Some men prefer boys fromthe country, even if they can't give references. "

"When do you think you can get me a place?" asked Jack. 

"Can't tell. We've only between four hundred and five hundred on thebooks now; and sometimes we get two or three dozen fixed in a day. "

"Five hundred!" exclaimed Jack, with a clouding face. "Why, it may bea month before my turn comes!"

"A month?" said the clerk. "Well, I hope not much longer, but it maybe. I wouldn't like to promise you anything so soon as that. "

Jack went out of that place with yet another idea concerning "businessin the city, " but he again began to make inquiries for himself. It wasthe weariest kind of work, and at last he was heartily sick of it. 

"I've done enough for one day, " he said to himself. "I've been into Idon't know how many stores. I know more about it than I did thismorning. "

There was no doubt of that. Jack had been getting wiser all the while;and he did not even look so rural as when he set out. He was reallybeginning to get into city ways, and he was thinking hard and fast. 

The first thing he did, after reaching the Hotel Dantzic, was to go upto his room. He felt as if he would like to talk with his sister Mary, and so he sat down and wrote her a long letter. 

He told her about his trip, all through, and about his German friends, and his Sunday; but it was anything but easy to write about Monday'sexperiences. He did it after a fashion, but he wrote much morecheerfully than he felt. 

Then he went down to the supper-room for some tea. It seemed to himthat he had ordered almost nothing, but it cost him twenty-five cents. 

It would have done him good if he could have known how Mary's thoughtswere at that same hour turning to him. 

At home, Jack's father and Mr. Magruder were talking about Jack's land, arranging about the right of way and what it was worth, while he sat inhis little room in the Hotel Dantzic, thinking over his long, weary dayof snubs, blunders, insults and disappointments. 

"Hunting for a place in the city is just the meanest kind of work, " hesaid at last. "Well, I'll go to bed, and try it again to-morrow. "

That was what he did; but Tuesday's work was "meaner" than Monday's. There did not seem to be even so much as a variation. It was all onedull, monotonous, miserable hunt for something he could not find. Itwas just so on Wednesday, and all the while, as he said, "Money willjust melt away; and somehow you can't help it. "

When he counted up, on Wednesday evening, however, he still had fourdollars and one cent; and he had found a place where they sold breadand milk, or bread and coffee, for ten cents. 

"I can get along on that, " he said; "and it's only thirty-cents a day, if I eat three times. I wish I'd known about it when I first camehere. I'm learning something new all the time. "

Thursday morning came, and with it a long, gossipy letter from Mary, and an envelope from Crofield, containing a letter from his mother anda message from his father written by her, saying how he had talked alittle--only a little--with Mr. Magruder. There was a postscript fromAunt Melinda, and a separate sheet written by his younger sisters, withscrawly postscripts from the little boys to tell Jack how the workmenhad dug down and found the old church bell, and that there was a crackin it, and the clapper was broken off. 

Jack felt queer over those letters. 

"I won't answer them right away, " he said. "Not till I get into somebusiness. I'll go farther down town today, and try there. "

At ten o'clock that morning, a solemn party of seven men met in theback room of the Mertonville Bank. 

"Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, please come to order. I supposewe all agree? We need a teacher of experience. The academy's notdoing well. The lady principal can't do everything. She must have agood assistant. "

"Who's your candidate, Squire Crowninshield?" asked Judge Edwards. "I'm trustee as Judge of the County Court. I've had thirty-oneapplications for my vote. "

"I've had more than that, " said the Squire good humoredly. "I won'tname my choice till after the first ballot. I want to know who are theother candidates first. "

"So do I, " said Judge Edwards. "I won't name mine at once, either. Who is yours, Elder Holloway?"

"We'd better have a nominating ballot, " remarked the Elder, handing afolded slip of paper to Mr. Murdoch, the editor of the _Eagle_. "Whois yours, Mr. Jeroliman?"

"I haven't any candidate, " replied the bank-president, with a worriedlook. "I won't name any, but I'll put a ballot in. "

"Try that, then, " said General Smith, who was standing instead ofsitting down at the long table. "Just a suggestion. "

Every trustee had something to say as to how he had been besieged byapplicants, until the seventh, who remarked:

"I've just returned from Europe, gentlemen. I'll vote for thecandidate having the most votes on this ballot. I don't care who wins. "

"I agree to that, " quickly responded General Smith, handing him afolded paper. "Put it in, Dr. Dillingham. It's better that none of usshould do any log-rolling or try to influence others. I'll adopt youridea. "

"I won't then, " said Squire Crowninshield, pleasantly but verypositively. "Murdoch, what's the name of that young woman who editedthe _Eagle_ for a week?"

"Miss Mary Ogden, " said the editor, with a slight smile. 

"A clever girl, " said the Squire, as he wrote on a paper, folded it, and threw it into a hat in the middle of the table. He had not heardJudge Edwards's whispered exclamation:

"That reminds me! I promised my wife that I'd mention Mary for theplace; but then there wasn't the ghost of a chance!"

In went all the papers, and the hat was turned over. 

"Now, gentlemen, " said General Smith, "before the ballots are openedand counted, I wish to ask: Is this vote to be considered regular andformal? Shall we stand by the result?"

"Certainly, certainly, " said the trustees in chorus. 

"Count the ballots!" said the Elder. 

The hat was lifted and the count began. 

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven--for Mary Ogden, " said ElderHolloway calmly. 

"I declare!" said General Smith. "Unanimous? Why, gentlemen, we wereagreed! There really was no difference of opinion whatever. "

"I'm glad she is such a favorite, " said Judge Edwards; "but we can'traise the salary on that account. It'll have to remain at fortydollars a month. "

"I'm glad she's got it!" said Mr. Murdoch. "And a unanimous vote is ahigh testimonial!"

And so Mary was elected. 

Each of them had other business to attend to, and it was not untilJudge Edwards went home, at noon, that the news was known to Mary, forthe Judge carried the pleasant tidings to Mary Ogden at thedinner-table. 

"Oh, Judge Edwards!" exclaimed Mary, turning pale. "I? At my age--tobe assistant principal of the academy?"

"There's only the Primary Department to teach, " said the Judgeencouragingly. "Not half so hard as that big, overgrown Sunday-schoolclass. Only it never had a good teacher yet, and you'll have hard workto get it into order. "

"What will they say in Crofield!" said Mary uneasily. "They'll say I'mnot fit for it. "

"I'm sure Miss Glidden will not, " said Mrs. Edwards, proudly. "I'mglad it was unanimous. It shows what they all thought of you. "

Perhaps it did; but perhaps it was as well for Mary Ogden's temper thatshe could not hear all that was said when the other trustees went hometo announce their action. 

It was a great hour for Mary, but her brother Jack was at that sametime beginning to think that New York City was united against him, --amillion and a half to one. 

He had been fairly turned out of the last store he had entered. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

JACK'S FAMINE. 

At Crofield, the morning mail brought a letter from Mary, telling ofher election. 

There was not so very much comment, but Mrs. Ogden cried a little, andsaid:

"I feel as if we were beginning to lose the children. "

"I must go to work, " said the tall blacksmith after a time; "but Idon't feel like it. So Mary's to teach, is she? She seems very young. I wish I knew about Jack. "

Meanwhile, poor Jack was half hopelessly inquiring, of man after man, whether or not another boy was wanted in his store. It was only onelong, flat, monotony of "No, sir, " and at last he once more turned hisweary footsteps up-town, and hardly had he done so before he waked up alittle and stood still, and looked around him. 

"Hullo!" he exclaimed, "I never was here before. This must be ChathamSquare and the Bowery. I've read about them in the guide-book. I cango home this way. It's not much like Broadway. "

So he thought, as he went along. And it did not at all resembleBroadway. It seemed to swarm with people; they appeared to beattending to their own business, and they were all behaving very well, so far as Jack could see. 

"Never saw such a jam, " said Jack, as he pushed into a small throng ona street corner, trying to get through; but at the word "jam" somethingcame down upon the top of his hat and forced it forward over his eyes. 

Up went both of his hands, instinctively, and at that moment each armwas at once caught and held up for a second or two. It was all done ina flash. Jack knew that some boisterous fellow had jammed his hat overhis eyes, and that others had hustled him a little; but he had not beenhurt, and he did not feel like quarreling, just then. He pushed alongthrough the throng, and was getting out to where the crowd was thinner, when he suddenly felt a chill and a weak feeling at his heart. He hadthrust his hand into his pocket. 

"My pocket-book!" he said, faintly. "It's gone! Where could I havelost it? I haven't taken it out anywhere. And there was more thanthree dollars in it I'd saved to pay for my room!"

He leaned heavily against a lamp-post for a moment, and all the brightideas he had ever had about the city became very dim and far away. Heput up one hand before his eyes, and at that moment his arm was firmlygrasped. 

"Here, boy! What's the matter?"

He looked up, and saw a blue uniform and a hand with a club in it, buthe could not say a word in reply. 

"You seem all right. Are you sick?"

"I've lost my pocket-book, " said Jack. "Every cent I had except somechange. "

[Illustration: _"I've lost my pocket-book. "_]

"That's bad, " and the keen-eyed officer understood the matter at aglance, for he added:

"You were caught in a crowd, and had your pocket picked? I can't doanything for you, my boy. It's gone, and that's all there is of it. Never push into crowds if you've any money about you. You'd better gohome now. "

"Only sixty-five cents left, " Jack said, as he walked away, "for thisevening, and Saturday, and Sunday, and for all next week, till I getsomething to do and am paid for doing it!"

He had eaten ten cents' worth of bread and milk at noon; but he was astrong and healthy boy and he was again hungry. Counting his changemade him hungrier, and he thought longingly of the brilliantsupper-room at the Hotel Dantzic. 

"That won't do, " he thought. "I must keep away from Keifelheimer andhis restaurant. There, now, that's something like. "

It was a small stand, close by a dark-looking cellar way. Half wascovered with apples, candy, peanuts, bananas, oranges, and cocoa-nuts. The other half was a pay-counter, a newspaper stand, and aneating-house. Jack's interest centered on a basket, marked, "HamSanwiges Five Cents. "

"I can afford a sandwich, " he said, "and I've got to eat something!"

At the moment when he leaned over and picked up a sandwich, a small oldwoman, behind the counter, reached out her hand toward him; and anothersmall old woman stretched her hand out to a boy who was testing theoranges; and a third small old woman sang out very shrilly:

"Here's your sanwiges! Ham sanwiges! Only five cents! Benannies!Oranges! Sanwiges!"

Jack put five cents into the woman's hand, and he was surprised to findhow much good bread and boiled ham he had bought. 

"It's all the supper I'll have, " he said, as he walked away. "I couldeat a loaf of bread and a whole ham, it seems to me!"

All the way to the Hotel Dantzic he studied over the loss of hispocket-book. 

"The policeman was right, " he said to himself, at last. "I didn't knowwhen they took it, but it must have been when my hat was jammed down. "

When Jack met Mr. Keifelheimer in the hotel office, he asked him whathe thought about it. An expression of strong indignation, if not ofhorror, crossed the face of the hotel proprietor. 

"Dey get you pocket-book?" he exclaimed. "You vas rob choost de samevay I vas; but mine vas a votch und shain. It vas two year ago, und Inefer get him back. Your friend, Mr. Guilderaufenberg, he vas rob dotvay, vonce, but den he vas ashleep in a railvay car und not know ven itvas done!"

Jack was glad of so much sympathy, but just then business called Mr. Keifelheimer away. 

"I won't go upstairs, " thought Jack. "I'll sit in the reading-room. "

No letters were awaiting him, but there were plenty of newspapers, andnearly a score of men were reading or talking. Jack did not reallycare to read, nor to talk, nor even to listen; but two gentlemen nearhim were discussing a subject that reminded him of the farms aroundCrofield. 

"Yes, " he heard one of them say, "we must buy every potato we cansecure. At the rate they're spoiling now, the price will be doubledbefore December. "

"Curious, how little the market knows about it yet, " said the other, and they continued discussing letters and reports about potatoes, fromplace after place, and State after State, and all the while Jacklistened, glad to be reminded of Crofield. 

"It was just so with our potatoes at home, " he said to himself. "Somefarmers didn't get back what they planted. "

This talk helped him to forget his pocket-book for a while; then, aftertrying to read the newspapers, he went to bed. 

A very tired boy can always sleep. Jack Ogden awoke, on Saturdaymorning, with a clear idea that sleep was all he had had forsupper, --excepting one ham sandwich. 

"It's not enough, " he said, as he dressed himself. "I must make somemoney. Oh, my pocket-book! And I shall have to pay for my room, Monday. "

He slipped out of the Hotel Dantzic very quietly, and he had a finesunshiny walk of two and a half miles to the down-town restaurant wherehe ate his ten cents' worth of bread and milk. 

"It's enough for a while, " he said, "but it doesn't last. If I was athome, now, I'd have more bread and another bowl of milk. I'll comehere again, at noon, if I don't find a place somewhere. "

Blue, blue, blue, was that Saturday for poor Jack Ogden! All theforenoon he stood up manfully to hear the "No, we don't want a boy, "and he met that same answer, expressed in almost identical words, everywhere. 

When he came out from his luncheon of bread and milk, he began to findthat many places closed at twelve or one o'clock; that even more wereto close at three, and that on Saturday all men were either tired andcross or in a hurry. Jack's courage failed him until he could hardlylook a man in the face and ask him a question. One whole week had gonesince Jack reached the city, and it seemed about a year. Here he was, without any way of making money, and almost without a hope of findingany way. 

"I'll go to the hotel, " he said, at about four o'clock. "I'll go upthe Bowery way. It won't pay anybody to pick my pocket this time!"

He had a reason for going up the Bowery. It was no shorter than theother way. The real explanation was in his pocket. 

"Forty cents left!" he said. "I'll eat one sandwich for supper, andI'll buy three more to eat in my room to-morrow. "

He reached the stand kept by the three small old women, and found eachin turn calling out, "Here you are! Sanwiges!--" and all the rest oftheir list of commodities. 

"Four, " said Jack. "Put up three of 'em in a paper, please. I'll eatone. "

It was good. In fact, it was too good, and Jack wished it was tentimes as large; but the last morsel of it vanished speedily and afterlooking with longing eyes at the others, he shut his teeth firmly. 

"I won't eat another!" he said to himself. "I'll starve it out tillMonday, anyway!"

It took all the courage Jack had to carry those three sandwiches to theHotel Dantzic and to put them away, untouched, in his traveling-bag. After a while he went down to the reading-room and read; but he went tobed thinking of the excellent meals he had eaten at the Albany hotel onhis way to New York. 

Mary Ogden's second Sunday in Mertonville was a peculiar trial to her, for several young ladies who expected to be in the Academy next term, came and added themselves to that remarkable Sunday-school class. Sodid some friends of the younger Academy girls; and the class had to bedivided, to the disappointment of those excluded. 

"Mary Ogden didn't need to improve, " said Elder Holloway to theSuperintendent, "but she is doing better than ever!"

How Jack did long to see Mary, or some of the family in Crofield, andCrofield itself! As soon as he was dressed he opened the bag and tookout one of his sandwiches and looked at it. 

"Why, they're smaller than I thought they were!" he said ruefully; "butI can't expect too much for five cents! I've just twenty cents left. That sandwich tastes good if it is small!"

So soon was it all gone that Jack found his breakfast veryunsatisfactory. 

"I don't feel like going to church, " he said, "but I might as well. Ican't sit cooped up here all day. I'll go into the first church I cometo, as soon as it's time. "

He did not care where he went when he left the hotel, and perhaps itdid not really make much difference, considering how he felt; but hefound a church and went in. A young man showed him to a seat under thegallery. Not until the minister in the pulpit came forward to give outa hymn, did Jack notice anything peculiar, but the first sonorous, rolling cadences of that hymn startled the boy from Crofield. 

"Whew!" he said to himself. "It's Dutch or something. I can'tunderstand a word of it! I'll stay, though, now I'm here. "

German hymns, and German prayers, and a tolerably long sermon inGerman, left Jack Ogden free to think of all sorts of things, and hisspirits went down, down, down, as he recalled all the famines of whichhe had heard or read and all the delicacies invented to tempt theappetite. He sat very still, however, until the last hymn was sung, and then he walked slowly back to the Hotel Dantzic. 

"I don't care to see Mr. Keifelheimer, " he thought. "He'll ask me tocome and eat at a big Sunday dinner, --and to pay for it. I'll dodgehim. "

He watched at the front door of the hotel for fully three minutes, until he was sure that the hall was empty. Then he slipped into thereading-room and through that into the rear passageway leading to theelevator; but he did not feel safe until on his way to his room. 

"One sandwich for dinner, " he groaned, as he opened his bag. "I neverknew what real hunger was till I came to the city! Maybe it won't lastlong, though. I'm not the first fellow who's had a hard time before hemade a start. "

Jack thought that both the bread and the ham were cut too thin, andthat the sandwich did not last long enough. 

"I'll keep my last twenty cents, though, " thought Jack, and he tried tobe satisfied. 

Before that afternoon was over, the guide-book had been again readthrough, and a long home letter was written. 

"I'll mail it, " he said, "as soon as I get some money for stamps. Ihaven't said a word to them about famine. It must be time to eat thatthird sandwich; and then I'll go out and take a walk. "

The sandwich was somewhat dry, but every crumb of it seemed to bevaluable. After eating it, Jack once more walked over and looked atthe fine houses on Fifth Avenue; but now it seemed to the hungry lad anutter absurdity to think of ever owning one of them. He stared andwondered and walked, however, and returned to the hotel tired out. 

On Monday morning, the Ogden family were at breakfast, when a neatlooking farm-wagon stopped before the door. The driver sprang to theground, carefully helped out a young woman, and then lifted down atrunk. Just as the trunk came down upon the ground there was a loudcry in the open doorway. 

"Mother! Molly's come home!" and out sprang little Bob. 

"Mercy on us!" Mrs. Ogden exclaimed, and the whole family were on theirfeet. 

Mary met her father as she was coming in. Then, picking up littleSally and kissing her, she said:

"There was a way for me to come over, this morning. I've brought mybooks home, to study till term begins. Oh, mother, I'm so glad to getback!"

The blacksmith went out to thank the farmer who had brought her; butthe rest went into the house to get Mary some breakfast and to look ather and to hear her story. 

Mrs. Ogden said several times:

"I do wish Jack was here, too!"

That very moment her son was leaving the Hotel Dantzic behind him, withtwo and a half miles to walk before getting his breakfast--a bowl ofbread and milk. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

JACK-AT-ALL-TRADES. 

Jack Ogden, that Monday morning, had an idea that New York was a verylong city. 

He had eaten nothing since Saturday noon, excepting the sandwiches, andhe felt that he should not be good for much until after he had hadbreakfast. His mind was full of unpleasant memories of the stores andoffices he had entered during his last week's hunt, and he did notrelish renewing it. 

"I must go ahead though, " he thought. "Something must be done, or I'llstarve. "

Every moment Jack felt better, and he arose from the table a littlemore like himself. 

"Ten cents left, " he said, as he went out into the street. "That'llbuy me one more bowl of bread and milk. What shall I do then?"

[Illustration: _"Ten cents left. "_]

It was a serious question, and demanded attention. It was still veryearly for the city, but stores were beginning to open, and groups ofmen were hurrying along the sidewalks on their way to business. Jackwent on, thinking and thinking, and a fit of depression was upon himwhen he entered a street turning out from Broadway. He had not triedthis street before. It was not wide, and it was beginning to lookbusy. At the end of two blocks, Jack uttered an exclamation:

"That's queer!" he said. "They all sell coffee, tea, groceries, andthat sort of thing. Big stores, too. I'll try here. "

His heart sank a little, as he paused in front of a very bustlingestablishment, bearing every appearance of prosperity. Some men werebringing out tea-chests and bags of coffee to pile around the doorway, as if to ask passers-by to walk in and buy some. The show-windows werealready filled with samples of sugar, coffee, and a dozen other kindsof goods. Just beyond one window Jack could see the first of a row ofthree huge coffee-grinders painted red, and back of the other windowwas more machinery. 

"I'll go in, anyway, " he said, setting his teeth. "Only ten centsleft!"

That small coin, because it was all alone in his pocket, drove him intothe door. Two thirds down the broad store there stood a black-eyed, wiry, busy-looking man, giving various directions to the clerks andother men. Jack thought, "He's the 'boss. ' He looks as if he'd sayno, right away. "

Although Jack's heart was beating fast, he walked boldly up to this man:

"Mister, " he said, "do you want to hire another boy?"

"You are the hundred and eleventh boy who has asked that same questionwithin a week. No, " responded the black-eyed man, sharply but goodnaturedly. 

"Gifford, " came at that moment from a very cheerful voice over Jack'sleft shoulder, "I've cleaned out that lot of potatoes. Sold twothousand barrels on my way down, at a dollar and a half a barrel. "

Jack remembered that some uncommonly heavy footsteps had followed himwhen he came in, and found that he had to look upward to see the faceof the speaker, who was unusually tall. The man leaned forward, too, so that Jack's face was almost under his. 

Mr. Gifford's answer had disappointed Jack and irritated him. 

"You did well!" said Mr. Gifford. 

Before he had time to think Jack said:

"A dollar and a half? Well, if you knew anything about potatoes, youwouldn't have let them go for a dollar and a half a barrel!"

"What do you know about potatoes?" growled the tall man, leaning aninch lower, and frowning at Jack's interruption. 

"More than you or Mr. Gifford seems to, " said Jack desperately. "Thecrop's going to be short. I know how it is up _our_ way. "

"Tell us what you know!" said the tall man sharply; and Mr. Gifforddrew nearer with an expression of keen interest upon his face. 

"They're all poor, " said Jack, and then he remembered and repeated, better than he could have done if he had made ready beforehand, all hehad heard the two men say in the Hotel Dantzic reading-room, and all hehad heard in Crofield and Mertonville. He had heard the two men calleach other by name, and he ended with:

"Didn't you sell your lot to Murphy & Scales? They're buyingeverywhere. "

"That's just what I did, " said the tall man. "I wish I hadn't; I'll goright out and buy!" and away he went. 

"Buy some on my account, " said Mr. Gifford, as the other man left thestore. "See here, my boy, I don't want to hire anybody. But you seemto know about potatoes. Probably you're just from a farm. What elsedo you know? What can you do?"

"A good many things, " said Jack, and to his own astonishment he spokeout clearly and confidently. 

"Oh, you can?" laughed Mr. Gifford. "Well, I don't need you, but Ineed an engineer. I wish you knew enough to run a small steam-engine. "

"Why, I can run a steam-engine, " said Jack. "That's nothing. May Isee it?"

Mr. Gifford pointed at some machinery behind the counter, near where hestood, and at the apparatus in the show-window. 

"It's a little one that runs the coffee-mills and the printing-press, "he said. "You can't do anything with it until a machinist mendsit--it's all out of order, I'm told. "

"Perhaps I can, " said Jack. "A boy who's learned the blacksmith'strade ought to be able to put it to rights. "

Without another word, Jack went to work. 

"Nothing wrong here, Mr. Gifford, " he said in a minute. "Where are thescrew-driver, and the monkey-wrench, and an oil-can?"

"Well, well!" exclaimed Mr. Gifford, as he sent a man for the tools. "Do you think you can do it?"

Jack said nothing aloud, but he told himself:

"Why, it's a smaller size but like the one in the _Eagle_ office. Theyget out of order easily, but then it's easy to regulate them. "

"You do know something, " said Mr. Gifford, laughing, a few minuteslater, when Jack said to him:

"She'll do now. "

"She won't do very well, " added Mr. Gifford, shaking his head. "Thatengine never was exactly the thing. It lacks power. "

"It may be the pulley-belt's too loose, " said Jack, after studying themechanism for a moment. 

"I'll send for a man to fix it, then. "

"No, you needn't, " said Jack. "I can tighten it so she'll run all themachinery you have. May I have an awl?"

"Of course, " said Mr. Gifford. "Put it to rights. There's plenty ofcoffee waiting to be ground. "

Jack went to work at the loose belt. 

"He's a bright fellow, " said Mr. Gifford to his head-clerk. "If wewanted another boy--but we don't. "

"Too many now, " was the short, decisive reply. 

It was not long before the machinery began to move. 

"Good!" said Mr. Gifford. "I almost wish I had something more for youto do, but I really haven't. If you could run that good-for-nothingold printing-press--"

"Printing-press?" exclaimed Jack. 

"Over in the other window, " said Mr. Gifford. "We thought of printingall our own circulars, cards, and paper bags. But it's a failure, unless we should hire a regular printer. We shall have to, I suppose. If you were a printer, now. "

"I've worked at a press, " said Jack. "I'm something of a printer. I'msure I can do that work. It's like a press I used to run when I workedin that business. "

Jack at once went to the show-window. 

"An 'Alligator' press, " he said, "like the one in the _Standard_office. It ought to be oiled, though. It needs adjusting, too. Nowonder it would not work. I can make it go. "

The business of the store was beginning. Steam was up in the engine, and the coffee-mills were grinding merrily. Mr. Gifford and all hisclerks were busied with other matters, and Jack was left to tinker awayat the Alligator press. "She's ready to run. I'll start her, " he saidat last. 

He took an impression of the form of type that was in the press andread it. 

"I see, " he said. "They print that on their paper bags for anadvertisement. I'll show it to Mr. Gifford. There are plenty of blankones lying around here, all ready to print. "

He walked up to the desk and handed in the proof, asking:

"Is that all right?"

"No, " said Mr. Gifford. "We let our stock of bags run down because thename of the firm was changed. I want to add several things. I'll sendfor somebody to have the proof corrections made. "

"You needn't, " said Jack. "Tell me what you want. Any boy who's everworked in a newspaper office can do a little thing like that. "

"How do you come to know so much about machinery?" asked Mr. Gifford, trying not to laugh. 

"Oh, " said Jack, "I was brought up a blacksmith, but I've worked atother trades, and it was easy enough to adjust those things. "

"That's what you've been up to is it?" said Mr. Gifford. "I saw youhammering and filing, and I wondered what you'd accomplished. I wantthe new paper bags to be, "--and he told Jack what changes wererequired, and added:

"Then, of course, I shall need some circulars--three kinds--and somecards. "

"That press will run over a thousand an hour when it's geared right. You'll see, " said Jack, positively. 

"Well, here's a true Jack-at-all-trades!" exclaimed Mr. Gifford, opening his eyes. "I begin to wish we had a place for you!"

It was nearly noon before Jack had another sample of printing ready toshow. There was a good supply of type, to be sure, but he was not muchof a printer, and type-setting did not come easily to him. He workedalmost desperately, however, and meanwhile his brains were as busy asthe coffee-mills. He succeeded finally, and it was time, for asalesman was just reporting:

"Mr. Gifford, we're out of paper bags. "

"We must have some right away, " said Mr. Gifford. "I wish thatyoungster really knew how to print them. He's tinkering at it overthere. "

"Is that right?" asked Jack only a second later, holding out a printedbag. 

"Why, yes, that's the thing. Go ahead, " said the surprisedcoffee-dealer. "I thought you'd failed this time. "

"I'll run off a lot, " said Jack, "and then I'll go out and getsomething to eat. "

"No, you won't, " said Mr. Gifford promptly. "No going out, duringbusiness hours, in _this_ house. I'll have a luncheon brought to you. I'll try you to-day, anyhow. "

Back went Jack without another word, but he thought silently, "Thatsaves me ten cents. "

The Alligator press was started, and Jack fed it with the blank paperbags the salesmen needed, and he began to feel happy. He was evenhappier when his luncheon was brought; for the firm of Gifford &Company saw that their employees fared well. 

"I declare!" said Jack to himself, "it's the first full meal I've hadsince last week Wednesday! I was starved. "

On went the press, and the young pressman sat doggedly at his task; buthe was all the while watching things in the store and hearing whateverthere was to hear. 

"I know their prices pretty well, " he thought. "Most of the things aremarked--ever so much lower than Crofield prices, too. "

He had piles of printed bags of different sizes ready for use, nowlying around him. 

"Time to get at some of those circulars, " he was saying, as he arosefrom his seat at the press and stepped out behind the counter. 

"Five pounds of coffee, " said a lady, before the counter, in a tone ofvexation. "I've waited long enough. Mocha and Java, mixed. "

"Thirty-five cents, " said Jack. 

"Quick, then, " said she, and he darted away to fill her order. 

"Three and a half pounds of powdered sugar, " said another lady, as hepassed her. 

"Yes, ma'am, " said Jack. 

"How much is this soap?" asked a stout old woman, and Jack rememberedthat price too. 

He was not at all aware that anybody was watching him; but he was justtelling another customer about tea and baking-soda when he felt a handupon his shoulder. 

"See here, " demanded Mr. Gifford, "what are you doing behind thecounter?"

"I was afraid they'd get tired of waiting and go somewhere else, " saidJack. "I know something about waiting on customers. Yes, ma'am, that's a fine tea. Forty-eight cents. Half pound? Yes ma'am. In ajiffy, Mr. Gifford;--there are bags enough for to-day. "

"I think you may stay, " said the head of the house. "I didn't needanother boy; but I begin to think I do need a blacksmith, a carpenter, a printer, and a good sharp salesman. " As he was turning away headded, "It's surprising how quickly he has picked up our prices. "

Jack's fingers were trembling nervously, but his face brightened as hedid up that package. 

Mr. Gifford waited while the Crofield boy answered yet another customerand sold some coffee, and told Jack to go right on. 

"Come to the desk, " he then said. "I don't even know your name. Come. "

Very hot and yet a little shaky was Jack as he followed; but Mr. Gifford was not a verbose man. 

"Mr. Jones, " he said to the head clerk, "please take down hisname;--what is it?"

"John Ogden, sir, " and after other questions and answers, Mr. Giffordsaid:

"Find a cheaper boarding-place. You can get good board for fivedollars a week. Your pay is only ten dollars a week to begin, and youmust live on that. We'll see that you earn it, too. You can beginprinting circulars and cards. "

Jack went, and Mr. Gifford added:

"Why, Mr. Jones, he's saved sending for three different workmen sincehe came in. He'll make a good salesman, too. He's a boy--but he isn'tonly a boy. I'll keep him. "

Jack went to the press as if in a dream. 

"A place!" he said to himself. "Well, yes. I've got a place. Goodwages, too; but I suppose they won't pay until Saturday night. How amI to keep going until then? I have to pay my bill at the HotelDantzic, too--now I've begun on a new week. I'll go without my supper, and buy a sandwich in the morning, and then--I'll get along somehow. "

He worked all that afternoon with an uneasy feeling that he was beingwatched. The paper bags were finished, a fair supply of them; and thenthe type for the circular needed only a few changes, and he began onthat. Each new job made him remember things he had learned in the_Standard_ office, or had gathered from Mr. Black, the wooden foremanof the _Eagle_. It was just as well, however, that things needed onlyfixing up and not setting anew, for that might have been a littlebeyond him. As it was, he overcame all difficulties, besides leavingthe press three times to act as salesman. 

Gifford & Co. Kept open to accommodate customers who purchased goods ontheir way home; and it was after nearly all other business houses, excepting such as theirs, were closed, that the very tall man leaned inat the door and then came striding down the store to the desk. 

"Gifford, " he said, "that clerk of yours was right. There's almost apanic in potatoes. I've got five thousand barrels for you, and fivethousand for myself, at a dollar and sixty, and the price just jumped. They will bring two dollars. If they do, we'll make two thousandapiece. "

"I'm glad you did so well, " said Mr. Gifford dryly, "but don't say muchto him about it. Let him alone--"

"Well, yes;--but I want to do something for him. Give him this tendollar bill from me. "

"Very well, " said Mr. Gifford, "you owe the profit to him. I'll takecare of my side of the matter. Ogden, come here a moment!"

Jack stopped the press and came to the desk. The money was handed tohim. 

"It's just a bit of luck, " said the tall man; "but your information wasvaluable to me. "

"Thank you, " said Jack, after he had in vain refused the money. 

"You've done enough, " said Mr. Gifford; "this will do for your firstday. Eight o'clock in the morning, remember. Good-night!"

"I'm glad I belong here, " Jack said to himself. "If I'd had my pick ofthe city I would have chosen this very store. Ten dollars! I can payMr. Keifelheimer now, and I sha'n't have to starve to death. "

Jack felt so prosperous that he walked only to the nearest station ofthe elevated railway, and cheerfully paid five cents for a ride up-town. 

When the Hotel Dantzic was reached, it seemed a much more cheerful andhome-like building than it had appeared when he left it in the morning;and Jack had now no notion of dodging Mr. Keifelheimer. There he stoodon the doorstep, looking stern and dignified. He was almost too politewhen Jack said:

"Good-evening, Mr. Keifelheimer. "

"Goot-efening, " he replied, with a bow. "I hope you gets along vellmit your beezness?"

"Pretty well, " said Jack cheerfully. 

"Vere vas you feexed?" asked Mr. Keifelheimer, doubtfully. 

Jack held out one of the business cards of Gifford & Company, andreplied:

"That's where I am. I guess I'll pay for my room here till the end ofthis week, and then I'll find a place farther down town. "

"I vas so sorry dey peek your pocket, " said Mr. Keifelheimer, lookingat the card. "Tell you vat, Mr. Ogden, you take supper mit me. Itcost you not'ing. I haf to talk some mit you. "

[Illustration: _Jack dines with Mr. Keifelheimer_. ]

"All right, " said Jack. "I'll pay up at the desk, and then I'll getready for dinner. "

When he came down Mr. Keifelheimer was waiting for him, very smiling, but not nearly so polite and dignified. Hardly were they seated at thesupper-table, before the proprietor coughed twice affectedly, and thenremarked:

"You not leaf de Hotel Dantzic, Mr. Ogden. I use up pounds and boxesof tea und sugar und coffee, und all dose sometings dey sell at Giffordund Company's. You get me de best prices mit dem, und you safe me agreat heap of money. I get schwindled, schwindled, all de times! Youvas keep your room, und you pays for vat you eats. De room is a gootroom, but it shall cost you not vun cent. So? If I find you safe memoney, I go on mit you. "

"I'll do my best, " said Jack. "Let me know what you're paying now. "

"Ve go all ofer de leest after ve eat someting, " said Mr. Keifelheimer. "Mr. Guilderaufenberg say goot deal about you. So did de ladies. Ivas sorry dot dey peek your pocket. "

Probably he had now forgotten just what he had thought of saying toJack in case the boy had not been able to pay for his room, and hadbeen out of employment; but Jack was enjoying a fine illustration ofthat wise proverb which says: "Nothing succeeds like success. "

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DRUMMER BOY. 

The Ogden family had said very little, outside of their own house, about the news of Mary's success in Mertonville, but on that Mondaymorning Miss Glidden received no less than four letters, and each ofthem congratulated her over the election of her dear young friend, andcommented on how glad she must be. "Well, " she said to herself, "ofcourse I'm glad. And I did all I could for her. She owes it all tome. I'll go and see her. "

Mary Ogden had so much talking to do and so many questions to answer, at the breakfast table, that her cup of coffee was cold before shecould drink it, and then she and her mother and her aunt went into theparlor to continue their talk. 

John Ogden himself waited there a long time before going over to theshop. His helper had the forge ready, and the tall blacksmith at onceput a rod of iron into the fire and began to blow the bellows. The rodwas at white heat and was out on the anvil in no time, and the hammerbegan to ring upon it to flatten it out when John heard somebody speakto him:

"Mr. Ogden, what are you making? I've been watching you--and I can'timagine!"

"Well, Deacon Hawkins, " said the blacksmith, "you'll have to tell. Thefact is I was thinking--well--my daughter has just come home. "

"I'm glad to hear it and to hear of her success, " answered the Deacon. "Miss Glidden told us. If you're not busy, I wish you'd put a shoe onmy mare's off hind foot. "

The blacksmith then went to work in earnest: and meanwhile Mary, at thehouse, was receiving the congratulations of her friends. "Why, MaryOgden, my dear! Are you here?" exclaimed Miss Glidden. "I'm so glad!I'm sure I did all I could for you. " "My dear Mary!" exclaimedanother. And Mary shook hands heartily with both her callers, andexpressed her gratitude to Miss Glidden. 

It was a day of triumph for Mary, and it must have been for MissGlidden, for she seemed to be continually persuading herself that muchof the credit of Mary's advancement was hers. The neighbors came andwent, and more than one of Mary's old school-fellows said to her: "I'mglad you are so fortunate. I wish _I_ could find something to do. "When the visitors were gone and Mary tried to help with the housework, her mother said positively, "Now, Molly, don't touch a thing; you goupstairs to your books, and don't think of anything else; I'm afraidyou won't have half time enough, even then. "

Her aunt gave the same advice, and Mary was grateful, being unusuallyeager to begin her studies; and even little Sally was compelled to keepout of Mary's room. 

During the latter part of that Monday afternoon John Ogden had animportant conference with Mr. Magruder, the railway director; and theblacksmith came home, at night, in a thoughtful state of mind. 

His son Jack, at about the same time sat in his room, at the HotelDantzic, in the far-away city he had struggled so hard to reach; andhe, too, was in a thoughtful mood. 

"I'll write and tell the family at home, and Mary, " he said after awhile. "I wonder whether every fellow who makes a start in New Yorkhas to almost starve at the beginning!"

He was tired enough to sleep well when bed-time came; but, nevertheless, he was downstairs Tuesday morning long before Mr. Keifelheimer's hour for appearing. Hotel-men who have to sit up lateoften rise late also. 

"For this once, " said Jack, "I'll have a prime Dantzic Hotel breakfast. After this week, my room won't cost me anything, and I can begin to layup money. I won't ride down town, though; except in the very worstkind of winter weather. "

It delighted him to walk down that morning, and to know just where hewas going and what work he had before him. 

"I'm sure, " he thought, "that I know every building, big and little, all the way along. I've been ordered out of most of these stores. ButI've found the place that I was looking for, at last. "

The porters of Gifford & Company had the store open when Jack gotthere, and Mr. Gifford was just coming in. 

"Ogden, " he said, in his usual peremptory way, "put that press-work onthe paper-bags right through, to-day. "

"One moment, please, Mr. Gifford, " said Jack. 

"I've hardly a moment to spare, " answered Mr. Gifford. "What is it?"

"A customer, " said Jack; "the Hotel Dantzic. I can find more of thesame kind, perhaps. "

"Tell me, " was the answer, with a look of greater interest, but also alook of incredulity. 

Jack told him, shortly, the substance of his talk with Mr. Keifelheimer, and Mr. Gifford listened attentively. 

"His steward and buyers have been robbing him, have they?" he remarked. "Well, he's right about it. No doubt we can save him from ten totwenty per cent. It's a good idea. I'll go up and see him, by and by. Now hurry with your printing!"

Jack turned to the waiting "Alligator, " and Mr. Gifford went on to hisdesk. 

"Jones, " he said, to his head clerk, "Ogden has drummed us a good hotelcustomer, " and then he told Mr. Jones about it. 

"Mr. Gifford, " said Mr. Jones, shrewdly, "can we afford to keep a sharpsalesman and drummer behind that little printing-press?"

"Of course not, " said Mr. Gifford. "Not after a week or so. But wemust wait and see how he wears. He's very young, and a stranger. "

"Young fellows soon grow, " said Mr. Jones. "He'll grow. He'll pick upeverything that comes along. I believe you'll find him a valuablesalesman. "

"Very likely, " said Mr. Gifford, "but I sha'n't tell him so. He hasplenty of confidence as it is. "

"It's not impudence, " said Mr. Jones. "If he hadn't beenpushing--well, he wouldn't have found this place with us. It's energy. "

"Yes, " said Mr. Gifford; "if it was impudence we should waste no timewith him. If there is anything I despise out and out, it's what isoften called cheek. "

Next, he hated laziness, or anything resembling it, and Jack sat behindthe Alligator that day, working hard himself and taking note of how Mr. Gifford kept his employees busy. 

"No wonder he didn't need another boy, " he thought. "He gets all thework possible out of every one he employs. That's why he's sosuccessful. "

It was a long, dull, hot day. The luncheon came at noon; and thecustomers came all the time, but Jack was forbidden to meddle with themuntil his printing was done. 

"Mr. Gifford's eyes are everywhere, " said he, "but I hope he hasn'tseen anything out of the way in me. There are bags enough to last amonth--yes, two months. I'll begin on the circulars and cardsto-morrow. I'm glad it's six o'clock. "

Mr. Gifford was standing near the door, giving orders to the porters, and as the Alligator stopped, Jack said to him: "I think I will govisiting among the other hotels, this evening. "

"Very well, " said Mr. Gifford quietly. "I saw Mr. Keifelheimer to-day, and made arrangements with him. If you're going out to the hotels inour interest, buy another hat, put on a stand-up collar with a newnecktie; the rest of your clothing is well enough. Don't try to lookdandyish, though. "

"Of course not, " said Jack, smiling; "but I was thinking about makingsome improvements in my suit. "

He made several purchases on his way up town, and put each article onas he bought it. The last "improvement" was a neat straw hat, from alot that were selling cheaply, and he looked into a long looking glassto see what the effect was. 

[Illustration: _Jack buys a new hat_. ]

"There!" he exclaimed. "There's very little of the 'green' left. It'snot altogether the hat and the collar, either. Nor the necktie. Maybesome of it was starved out!"

He was a different looking boy, at all events, and the cashier at thedesk of the Hotel Dantzic looked twice at him when he came in, and Mr. Keifelheimer remarked:

"Dot vas a smart boy! His boss vas here, und I haf safe money. Mr. Guilderaufenberg vas right about dot boy. "

Jack was eager to begin his "drumming, " but he ate a hearty supperbefore he went out. 

"I must learn something about hotels, " he remarked thoughtfully. "I'lltake a look at some of them. "

The Hotel Dantzic was not small, but it was small compared to some ofthe larger hotels that Jack was now to investigate. He walked into thefirst one he found, and he looked about it, and then he walked out, andwent into another and looked that over, and then he thought he wouldtry another. He strolled around through the halls, and offices, andreading-rooms, and all the public places; but the more he saw, the morehe wondered what good it would do him to study them. 

It was about eight o'clock in the evening when he stood in front of theoffice of the great Equatorial Hotel, feeling very keenly that he wasstill only a country boy, with very little knowledge of the men andthings he saw around him. 

A broad, heavy hand came down upon his shoulder, and a voice he hadheard before asked, heartily:

"John Ogden? You here? Didn't I tell you not to stay too long in thecity?"

"Yes, you did, Governor, " said Jack, turning quickly. "But I had tostay here. I've gone into the wholesale and retail grocery business. "

Jack already knew that the Governor could laugh merrily, and that anyother men who might happen to be standing by were more than likely tojoin with him in his mirth, but the color came at once to his cheekswhen the Governor began to smile. 

"In the grocery business?" laughed the Governor. "Do you supply theEquatorial?"

"No, not yet; but I'd like to, " said Jack. "I think our house couldgive them what they need. "

"Let me have your card then, " said one of the gentlemen who had joinedin the Governor's merriment; "for the Governor has no time to spare--"

Jack handed him the card of Gifford & Company. 

"Take it, Boulder, take it, " said the Governor. "Mr. Ogden and I areold acquaintances. "

"He's a protégé of yours, eh?" said Boulder. "Well, I mean business. Write your own name there, Mr. Ogden. I'll send our buyer down there, to-morrow, and we'll see what can be done. Shall we go in, Governor?"

Jack understood, at once, that Mr. Boulder was one of the proprietorsof the Equatorial Hotel. 

"I'm called for, Jack, " said the Governor. "You will be in the cityawhile, will you not? Well, don't stay here too long. I came hereonce, when I was about your age. I staid a year, and then I went away. A year in the city will be of great benefit to you, I hope. Good-bye. "

"Good-bye, Governor, " said Jack, seriously. "We'll do the right thingby Mr. Boulder;" and there was another laugh as Jack shook hands withthe Governor, and then with the very dignified manager of theEquatorial Hotel. 

"That will do, for one evening, " thought Jack, as the distinguishedparty of gentlemen walked away. "I'd better go right home and go tobed. The Governor's a brick anyhow!"

Back he went to the Hotel Dantzic, and he was soon asleep. 

The Alligator press in Gifford & Company's was opening and shutting itsblack jaws regularly over the sheets of paper it was turning intocirculars, about the middle of Wednesday forenoon, when a dappergentleman with a rather prominent scarf-pin walked briskly into thestore and up to the desk. 

"Mr. Gifford?" he asked. 

"Yes, sir. "

"I'm Mr. Barnes, " said the dapper man. "General buyer for theEquatorial Hotel. Your Mr. Ogden was up with us, last night, to seesome of his friends, and I've come down to look at your price-list, andso forth. "

"Oh!" quietly remarked Mr. Gifford, "our Mr. Ogden. Oh, quite right!I think we can satisfy you. We'll do our best, certainly. Mr. Jones, please confer with Mr. Barnes--I'll be back in a minute. "

Up toward the door walked Mr. Gifford, but not too fast. He stoodstill when he arrived at the Alligator press. 

"Ogden, " he said, "you can leave that work. I've another printing handcoming. "

Jack's heart beat quickly, for a moment. What, --could he be dischargedso suddenly? He was dismayed. But Mr. Gifford went on:

"Wash your hands, Ogden, and stand behind the counter there. I'll seeyou again, by and by. The buyer is here from the Equatorial. "

"I promised them you'd give them all they wanted, and as good prices ascould be had anywhere, " said Jack, with a great sense of relief, andrecovering his courage. 

"We will, " said Mr. Gifford, as he turned away, and he did not think hemust explain to Jack that it would not do for Mr. Barnes to findGifford & Company's salesman, "Mr. Ogden, " running an Alligator press. 

Mr. Barnes was in the store for some time, but Jack was not called upto talk with him. Mr. Gifford was the right man for that part of theaffair, and in the course of his conversation with Mr. Barnes helearned further particulars concerning the intimacy between "your Mr. Ogden" and the Governor, with the addition that "Mr. Boulder thinkswell of Mr. Ogden too. "

Jack waited upon customers as they came, and he did well, for "a newhand. " But he felt very ignorant of both articles and prices, and thefirst thing he said, when Mr. Gifford again came near him, was:

"Mr. Gifford, I ought to know more than I do about the stock andprices. "

"Of course you ought, " said Mr. Gifford. "I don't care to have you tryany more 'drumming' till you do. You must stay a few months behind thecounter and learn all you can. You must dress neatly, too. I wonderyou've looked as well as you have. We'll make your salary fifteendollars a week. You'll need more money as a salesman. "

Jack flushed with pleasure, but a customer was at hand, and theinterruption prevented him from making an answer. 

"Jones, " remarked Mr. Gifford to his head clerk, "Ogden is going tobecome a fine salesman!"

"I thought so, " said Jones. 

They both were confirmed in this opinion, about three weeks later. Jack was two hours behind time, one morning; but when he did come, hebrought with him Mr. Guilderaufenberg of Washington, with reference toa whole winter's supplies for a "peeg poarding-house, " and two UnitedStates Army contractors. Jack had convinced these gentlemen that theywere paying too much for several articles that could be found on thelist of Gifford & Company in better quality and at cheaper rates. 

"Meester Giffort, " said the German gentleman, "I haf drafel de vorltover, und I haf nefer met a better boy dan dot Jack Ogden. He knowsnot mooch yet, alretty, but den he ees a very goot boy. "

"We like him, " said Mr. Gifford, smiling. 

"So do I, und so does Mrs. Guilderaufenberg, und Miss Hildebrand, undMiss Podgr-ms-chski, " said the German. "Some day you lets him visit usin Vashington? So?"

"I don't know. Perhaps I will, " said Mr. Gifford; but he afterwardremarked grimly to Mr. Jones: "If I should, and he should meet thePresident, Ogden would never let him go until he bought some of our teaand coffee!"

That day was a notable one in both Crofield and Mertonville. Jack'sfirst long letter, telling that he was in the grocery business, hadbeen almost a damper to the Ogden family. They had kept alive a smallhope that he would come back soon, until Aunt Melinda opened anenvelope that morning and held up samples of paper bags, cards, andcirculars of Gifford & Company, while Mrs. Ogden read the letter thatcame with them. Bob and Jim claimed the bags next, while Susie andBessie read the circulars, and the tall blacksmith himself straightenedup as if he had suddenly grown prouder. 

"Mary!" he exclaimed. "Jack always said he'd get to the city. Andhe's there--and earning his living!"

"Yes, but--Father, " she said, with a small shake in her voice, "I--wishhe was back again. There'd be almost room for him to work in Crofield, now. "

"Maybe so, maybe so, " he replied. "There'll be crowds of people comingin when they begin work on the new rail way and the bridge. I signedthe deeds yesterday for all the land they're buying of Jack and me. Iwon't tell him about it quite yet, though. I don't wish to unsettlehis mind. Let him stay where he is. "

"This will be a trying day for Mary, " said Aunt Melinda, thoughtfully. "The Academy will open at nine o'clock. Just think of what that childhas to go through! There'll be a crowd there, too, --oh, dear me!"

Mary Ogden sat upon the stage, by previous orders from the Academyprincipals, awaiting the opening exercises; but the principalsthemselves had not yet arrived. She looked rather pale, and she wasintently watching the nickel-plated gong on the table and the hands ofthe clock which hung upon the opposite wall. 

"Perhaps the principals are here, " Mary thought as the clock handscrept along. "But they said to strike the bell at nine, precisely, andif they're not here I must do it!"

At the second of time, up stood Mary and the gong sounded sharply. 

That was for "Silence!" and it was very silent, all over the hall, andall the scholars looked at Mary and waited. 

"Clang, " went the gong again, and every boy and girl arose, as if theyhad been trained to it. 

Poor Mary was thinking, "I hope nobody sees how scared I am!" but theAcademy term was well opened, and Dr. Dillingham was speaking, when theReverend Lysander Pettigrew and Mrs. Henderson, the tardy principals, came hurrying in to explain that an accident had delayed them. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

COMPLETE SUCCESS. 

Two years passed. There was a great change in the outward aspect ofCrofield. The new bridge over the Cocahutchie was of iron, resting onstone piers, and the village street crossed it. The railroad bridgewas just below, but was covered in with a shed, so that the trainsmight not frighten horses. The mill was still in its place, but thedam was two feet higher and the pond was wider. Between the mill andthe bridge was a large building of brick and stone that looked like afactory. Between the street and the railway, the space was filled bythe station-house and freight depot, which extended to Main Street; andthere were more railway buildings on the other side of the Cocahutchie. Just below the railroad and along the bank of the creek, the ground wascovered by wooden buildings, and there was a strong smell of leatherand tan-bark. Of course, the old Washington Hotel was gone; but acrossthe street, on the corner to the left, there was a great brickbuilding, four stories high, with "Washington Hotel" painted across thefront of it. The stores in that building were just finished. Lookingup Main Street, or looking down, it did not seem the same village. Thenew church in the middle of the green was built of stone; and both ofthe other churches were rapidly being demolished, as if new ones alsowere to take their places. 

It was plain, at a glance, that if this improvement was general, thevillage must be extending its bounds rapidly, for there never had beentoo much room in it, for even the old buildings with which Jack hadbeen familiar. 

Jack Ogden had not been in Crofield while all this work was going on. His first week with Gifford & Company seemed the most exciting weekthat he had ever known, and the second was no less busy andinteresting. He did not go to the German church the second Sunday, butlater he did somehow drift into another place of worship where thesermon was preached in Welsh. 

"Well!" said Jack, when he came out, at the close of the service, "Ithink I'll go back to the church I went to first. I don't look sogreen now as I did then, but I'm sure the General will remember me. "

He carried out this determination the next Sunday. The sexton gave hima seat, and he took it, remarking to himself:

"A fellow feels more at home in a place where he's been before. There's the General! I wish I was in his pew. I'll speak to him whenhe comes out. "

The great man appeared, in due season, and as he passed down the aislehe came to a boy who was just leaving a pew. With a smile on his face, the boy held out his hand and bowed. 

"Good-morning, " said the General, shaking hands promptly and bowinggraciously in return. Then he added, "I hope you'll come here everySunday. "

[Illustration: _Jack speaks to the General_. ]

That was all, but Jack received at least a bow, every Sunday, for fourweeks. On the Monday after the fourth Sunday, the door of Gifford &Company's store was shadowed by the entrance of a very proud-lookingman who stalked straight on to the desk, where he was greeted cordiallyby Mr. Gifford, for he seemed to be an old friend. 

"You have a boy here named John Ogden?" asked the General. 

"Yes, General, " said Mr. Gifford. "A fine young fellow. "

"Is he doing well?" asked the General. 

"We've no fault to find with him, " was the answer. "Do you care to seehim? He's out on business, just now. "

"No, I don't care to see him, " said the General. "Tell him, please, that I called. I feel interested in his progress, that's all. Good-morning, Mr. Gifford. "

The head of the firm bowed the general out, and came back to say to Mr. Jones: "That youngster beats me! He can pick up a millionaire, or agovernor, as easily as he can measure a pound of coffee. "

"Some might think him rather bold, " said Jones, "but I don't. He isabsorbed in his work, and he puts it through. He's the kind of boy wewant, no doubt of that. "

"See what he's up to, this morning!" said Mr. Gifford. "It's allright. He asked leave, and I told him he might go. "

Jack had missed seeing the General because he did not know enough ofthe grocery business. He had said to Mr. Gifford:

"I think, Mr. Gifford, I ought to know more about this business fromits very beginnings. If you'll let me, I'd like to see where we getsupplies. "

That meant a toilsome round among the great sugar refineries, on theLong Island side of the East River; and then another among the tea andcoffee merchants and brokers, away down town, looking at samples of allsorts and finding out how cargoes were unloaded from ships and werebought and sold among the dealers. He brought to the store, thatafternoon, before six o'clock, about forty samples of all kinds ofgrocery goods, all labeled with prices and places, and he was going onto talk about them when Mr. Gifford stopped him. 

"There, Ogden, " he said. "I know all about these myself, --but wheredid you find that coffee? I want some. And this tea?--It is two centslower than I'm paying. Jones, he's found just the tea you and I weretalking of--" and so he went on carefully examining the other samples, and out of them all there were seven different articles that Gifford &Company bought largely next day. 

"Jones, " said Mr. Gifford, when he came back from buying them, "theyhad our card in each place, and told me, 'Your Mr. Ogden was in hereyesterday. We took him for a boy at first. '--I'm beginning to thinkthere are some things that only that kind of boy can do. I'll just lethim go ahead in his own way. "

Mary had told Jack all about her daily experiences in her letters tohim, and he said to himself more than once:

"Dudley Edwards must be a tip-top fellow. It's good of him to driveMary over to Crofield and back every Saturday. And they have had suchgood sleighing all winter. I wish I could try some of it. "

There was no going to Crofield for him. When Thanksgiving Day came, hecould not afford it, and before the Christmas holidays Mr. Gifford toldhim:

"We can't spare you at Christmas, Ogden. It's the busiest time for usin the whole year. "

Mr. Gifford was an exacting master, and he kept Jack at it all throughthe following spring and summer. Mary had a good rest during the hotweather, but Jack did not. One thing that seemed strange to her wasthat so many of the Crofield ladies called to see her, and that MissGlidden was more and more inclined to suggest that Mary's election hadbeen mainly due to her own influence in Mertonville. 

On the other hand, it seemed to Jack that summer, as if everybody heknew was out of the city. Business kept pressing him harder andharder, and all the plans he made to get a leave of absence for thatsecond year's Thanksgiving Day failed to work successfully. 

The Christmas holidays came again, but throughout the week, Gifford &Company's store kept open until eight o'clock, every evening, with JackOgden behind the counter. He got so tired that he hardly cared aboutit when they raised his salary to twenty-five dollars a week, justafter Mr. Gifford saw him come down town with another coffee and teadealer, whose store was in the same street. 

"We mustn't let him leave us, Jones, " Mr. Gifford had said to his headclerk. "I am going to send him to Washington next week. "

Not many days later, Mrs. Guilderaufenberg in her home at Washingtonwas told by her maid servant that, "There's a strange b'y below, ma'am, who sez he's a-wantin' to spake wid yez. "

Down went the landlady into the parlor, and then up went her hands. 

"Oh, Mr. Jack_og_den! How glad I am to see you! You haf come! I gifyou the best stateroom in my house. "

"I believe I'm here, " said Jack, shaking hands heartily. "How is Mr. Guilderaufenberg and how is Miss--"

"Oh, Miss Hildebrand, " she said, "she will be so glad, and so will Mrs. Smith. She avay with her husband. He is a Congressman from far vest. You will call to see her. "

"Mrs. Smith?" exclaimed Jack, but in another second he understood it, and asked after his old friend with the unpronounceable name as well asafter Miss Hildebrand. 

"She has a name, now, that I can speak! I'm glad Smith isn't a Polishname, " he said to himself. 

"Oh, Mr. Jack_og_den!" exclaimed Mrs. Guilderaufenberg, a moment later. "How haf you learned to speak German? She will be so astonish!"

That was one use he had made of his evenings, and he had improved byspeaking to all the Germans he had met down town; and his German was agreat delight to Mr. Guilderaufenberg, and to Miss Hildebrand, and toMrs. Smith (formerly Miss Pod----ski) when he called to see them. 

"So!" said Mr. Guilderaufenberg, "you takes my advice and you comes. Dis ees de ceety! Ve shows you eet all ofer. All de beeg buildingsand all de beeg men. You shtay mit Mrs. Guilderaufenberg and me tillyou sees all Vashington. "

Jack did so, but he had business errands also, and he somehow managedto accomplish his commissions so that Mr. Gifford was quite satisfiedwhen he returned to New York. 

"I haven't sold so many goods, " said Jack, "but then I've seen the cityof Washington, and I've shaken hands with the President and withSenators and Congressmen. Mr. Gifford, how soon can I make a visit toCrofield?"

"We'll arrange that as soon as warm weather comes, " said his employer. "Make it your summer vacation. "

Jack had to be satisfied. He knew that more was going on in the oldvillage than had been told him in any of his letters from home. Hisfather was a man who dreaded to write letters, and Mary and the rest ofthem were either too busy, or else did not know just what news would bemost interesting to Jack. 

"I'm going to see Crofield!" said he, a hundred times, after the daysbegan to grow longer. "I want to see the trees and the grass and Iwant to see corn growing and wheat harvesting. I'd even like to bestung by a bumblebee!"

He became so eager about it, at last, that he went home by rail all theway, in a night train, and he arrived at Crofield, over the newrailroad, just as the sun was rising, one bright June morning. 

"Goodness!" he exclaimed, as he walked out of the station. "It's notthe same village! I won't go over to the house and wake the familyuntil I've looked around. "

From where he stood, he gazed at the new hotel, and took a long look upand down Main Street. Then he walked eagerly down toward the bridge. 

"Hullo!" he said in amazement. "Our house isn't there! Why, what isthe meaning of this? I knew that the shop had been moved up to theback lot. They're building houses along the road across theCocahutchie! Why haven't they written and told me of all this?"

He saw the bridge, the factory, the tannery, and many other buildings, but he did not see the familiar old blacksmith shop on the back lot. 

"I don't know where we live nor where to find my home!" he said, almostdejectedly. "They know I'm coming, though, and they must have meant tosurprise me. Mary's at home, too, for her vacation. "

He walked up Main Street, leaving his baggage at the station. New--new--new, --all the buildings for several blocks, and then he cameto houses that were just as they used to be. One pretty white housestood back among some trees, on a corner, and, as Jack walked nearer, atall man in the door of it stepped quickly out to the gate. He seemedto be trying to say something, but all he did, for a moment, was tobeckon with his hand. 

[Illustration: _Jack returns home_. ]

"Father!" shouted Jack, as he sprang forward. 

"Jack, my son, how are you?"

"Is this our house?" asked Jack. 

"Yes, this is our house. They're all getting up early, too, becauseyou're coming. There are some things I want to talk about, though, before they know you're actually here. Walk along with me a littleway. "

On, back, down Main Street, walked Jack with his father, until theycame to what was now labeled Bridge Street. When Jack lived inCrofield the road had no name. 

"See that store on the corner?" asked Mr. Ogden. "It's a fine-lookingstore, isn't it?"

"Very, " said Jack. 

"Well, now, " said his father, "I'm going to run that store, and I dowish you were to be in it with me. "

"There will be none too much room in it for Bob and Jim, " said Jack. "They're growing up, you know!"

"You listen to me, " continued the tall blacksmith, trying to be calm. "The railway company paid me quite a snug sum of money for what theyneeded of your land and mine. Mr. Magruder did it for you. I boughtwith the money thirty acres of land, just across the Cocahutchie, tothe left of the bridge. Half of it was yours to begin with, and nowI've traded you the other half. Don't speak. Listen to me. Most ofit was rocky, but the railway company opened a quarry on it, gettingout their stone, and it's paying handsomely. Livermore has built thathotel block. I put in the stone and our old house lot, and I own thecorner store, except that Livermore can use the upper stories for hishotel. The factory company traded me ten shares of their stock forpart of your land on which they built. I traded that stock for tenacres of rocky land along the road, across the Cocahutchie, up by themill. That makes forty acres there. "

"Father!" exclaimed Jack. "All it cost me was catching a runaway team, and your bill against the miller! Crofield is better than the grocerybusiness in New York!"

"Listen!" said his father, smiling. "The tannery company traded me alot of their stock for the rest of my back lot and for the rest of yourgravel, and they tore down the blacksmith shop, and I traded theirstock and some other things for the house where we live. I made yourpart good to you, with the land across the creek, and that's where thenew village of Crofield is to be. "

"I didn't see a cent of money in any of those trades, but I've athousand dollars laid up, and I'm only working in the railroad shopnow, but I'm going into the hardware business. I wish you'd come backand come in with me. There's the store--rent free. We can sell plentyof tools, now that Crofield is booming!"

"I've saved up seven hundred and fifty dollars, " said Jack, "from mysalary and commissions. I'll put that in. Gifford & Company'll sendyou things cheap. But, Father, --I belong in the city. I've seenhundreds of boys there who didn't belong there, but I do. Let's goback to the house. Bob and Jim--"

"Well, maybe you're right, " said his father, slowly. "Come, let us gohome. Your mother has hardly been able to wait to see you. "

When they came in sight of the house, the stoop and the front gate werethronged with home-folk, but Jack could not see clearly for a moment. The sunshine, or something else, got into his eyes. Then there werepairs of arms, large and small, embracing him, and, --well, it was ahappy time, and Mary was there and his mother, and the family were alltogether once more. 

"How you have grown!" said his aunt. "_How_ you have grown!"

"I do wish you'd come home to stay!" exclaimed his mother. 

"Perhaps he will, " said his father, and Mary had hardly said a wordtill then, but now it seemed to burst out in spite of her. 

"Oh Jack!" she said. "If I could go back with you, when you go! Icould live with a sister of Mrs. Edwards. She's invited me to livewith her for a whole year. And I could finish my education, and bereally fit to teach. I've saved some money. "

"Mary!" answered Jack, "I can pay all the other expenses. Do come!"

"Yes, you'd better go, Jack, " said his father, thoughtfully. "I amsure that you are a city boy. "

That was a great vacation, but no trout were now to be caught in theCocahutchie. The new store on the corner was to be opened in theautumn, and Jack insisted upon having it painted a bright red about thewindows. There were visits to Mertonville, and there were endlesstalks about what Jack's land was going to be worth, some day. But thedays flew by, and soon his time was up and he had to go back to thecity. He and Mary went together, and they went down the Hudson Riverin the steamer "Columbia. "

Mr. Dudley Edwards, of Mertonville, went at the same time to attend tosome law business, he said, in New York. 

Jack told Mr. Gifford all about the Crofield town-lots, and hisemployer answered:

"That is the thing for you, Ogden; you'll have some capital, when youcome of age, and then we can take you in as a junior partner. Youbelong in the city. I couldn't take you in any sooner, you know. Wedon't want a boy. "

"That's just what you told me, " said Jack roguishly, "the first time Icame into this store; but you took me then. Well, I shall always do mybest. "

THE END.