Part 42 (1/2)

CHAPTER XXIX.

PENNILESS.

It was daylight when Ralph awakened from what had been an unusually sound sleep. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, wondering for the moment where he was. Then the recollection of what had occurred flashed over his mind. He looked beside him, and saw that Jackson Walters had gone.

”He must have dressed and left me to sleep it out,” he thought. ”I wonder what time--hallo! what does that mean?”

Ralph had espied his clothing in a heap on the floor, most of the pockets inside out. With a strange fear he leaped from the bed and made a hasty examination. It was only too true--he had been robbed.

”That fellow was nothing but a sharper!” he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed to himself. ”What a fool I was to be taken in by his smooth tongue! He took me for a greeny from the country, and he was right.”

Ralph did not know enough to ring for the proprietor of the hotel and acquaint him with the facts in the case. He scrambled into his clothing as best he could, and washed and brushed up all in a minute.

When he reached the office he found a new man at the desk.

”I have been robbed,” he said.

”Robbed!” cried the clerk. ”By whom?”

”A man who occupied the same room that I did,” replied the boy.

He told what he knew, to which the clerk listened with interest. But the hotel clerk saw that Ralph was green, so he took no responsibility upon his own shoulders. He said he would notify the police, but it was likely nothing would be heard of Jackson Walters.

The matter was talked over for half an hour, and then Ralph left the place to see if he could trace up the thief. He walked around until noon, without any success.

”This is the worst yet,” he muttered to himself, as he at last came to a halt down near one of the ferries. ”Here I am in the city without a cent in my pocket. What in the world shall I do?”

Had Ralph been in New York he would have made an effort to hunt up Horace Kelsey, the gentleman he had a.s.sisted while he was acting as bridge tender.

The gentleman had told him to call whenever he was in the city, and he had no doubt but what he could raise a loan when he stated how he was situated.

At length he decided to go back to the hotel and see if anything had been heard of Jackson Walters. He went back, only to be disappointed.

But the visit was productive of some good. Hearing that he had a friend in New York, the hotel keeper gave him a quarter of a dollar with which to get over the ferry and pay other expenses while hunting him up.

Ralph was soon back to the river, and in company with a great stream of people, he purchased a ferry ticket and went aboard one of the boats.

The trip on such a craft was a novelty, and he was sorry it did not last longer. Yet when the boat touched on the other side he was one of the first ash.o.r.e.

Ralph was now in the great city of New York, and the country boy could not help but stare about him at the bustle and apparent confusion on all sides.

By a miracle he managed to cross Wall street in safety, and then, learning that Broadway lay several blocks beyond, he followed the crowd in that direction.

”It's a big place, and no mistake,” he said to himself. ”My gracious, what tall buildings, and how they are crowded together!”

At last Broadway was reached, that greatest of all metropolitan thoroughfares. It was the most wonderful of all sights to Ralph, so many cars, and wagons, and trucks, not to mention people. He stood on the corner so long that at last a policeman came up and told him to move on.

Ralph was sorry he could not remember Horace Kelsey's number. The insurance agent's card was at home, and the boy had not troubled himself to commit the address to memory. He knew it was on Broadway, and that was all.

”I suppose I might inquire at some of the insurance offices,” he thought, at length. ”I'll step into the next one I run across.”