Part 45 (1/2)
”I'm around here most all day, boss, an' t'ank yer fer sayin' you'll look out fer me.”
The shoes were now blacked, and Mickety arose to his feet. Ralph brought out a quarter and handed it over.
”Keep it all, Mickety,” he said. ”I am sorry I can't spare more just now.”
”Gee! A quarter! Yer a liberal gent, so yer are! T'ank yer, sir!”
”You are quite welcome,” returned Ralph, and he walked off.
He was destined to meet the bootblack again, and under circ.u.mstances full of the gravest peril.
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
ON THE BOWERY.
After leaving the bootblack Ralph hardly knew what to do with himself. It was barely three o'clock, and he fancied it still too early to visit Horace Kelsey's office again.
He concluded to walk around and see the sights, and accordingly strolled up Broadway past the City Hall Park, and continued on up until Fourteenth street was reached.
This great thoroughfare, with its immense stores, interested him greatly.
He spent fully half an hour in looking into the show-windows.
”What a lot of money must be invested in business here,” he thought. ”How I would like to be a merchant on such a scale. A person who had never been here would not imagine it was so grand!”
When a neighboring clock showed the hour of four the boy thought it time to return to the insurance agent's office. He was soon on his way downtown.
At the entrance to the office, a policeman tapped him on the shoulder. It was the one he had met earlier in the day.
”Hallo, young fellow,” he said. ”Did you get your money back?”
”Yes, I got my money, and a trifle more,” returned Ralph. ”Did you catch the man?”
”No, the rascal gave me the slip. So you got more than your money, eh?”
”I got five dollars more. But he has my pocketknife and a silver temperance badge. He can have his money when he gives me my things back.”
”I reckon you'll have to call it square,” laughed the policeman. ”He was a slick one.”
”He was, sir.”
”You are a stranger in the city, I take it,” went on the policeman, with a glance at Ralph's country clothes.
”Yes.”
”You want to have your eyes open in the future, or you'll be robbed again before long.
”If you sleep in a room with others, pin your money fast inside of your s.h.i.+rt. Then they can't get it without waking you up.”
”Thank you, I'll remember that.”