diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/aboyr10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/aboyr10.txt | 4958 |
1 files changed, 4958 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/aboyr10.txt b/old/aboyr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ea2cbe --- /dev/null +++ b/old/aboyr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4958 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of a Boy Reporter +by Harry Steele Morrison + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Adventures of a Boy Reporter + +Author: Harry Steele Morrison + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4990] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY REPORTER *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Jim Weiler, xooqi.com + + + + The Adventures of a Boy Reporter + +by Harry Steele Morrison, 1900 + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. + +LIVING IN THE COUNTRY-- LIFE AT SCHOOL-- THE HUT CLUB IS FORMED-- THE COMING +OF THE CIRCUS + +CHAPTER II. + +ARCHIE LONGS FOR A CHANGE IN SURROUNDINGS-- A TRIP TO NEW YORK WITH UNCLE +HENRY + +CHAPTER III. + +ARCHIE DETERMINES TO GO TO THE CITY TO WORK-- LEAVING HOME AT NIGHT + +CHAPTER IV. + +WORKING ON A FARM TO EARN SOME MONEY-- CRUEL TREATMENT + +CHAPTER V. + +THE NIGHT AMONG THE RUINS-- THE CAMP-FIRE OF THE TRAMPS + +CHAPTER VI. + +STEALING A RIDE-- KICKED OUT BY THE BRAKEMAN + +CHAPTER VII. + +ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK-- A NIGHT IN A LODGING-HOUSE + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LOOKING FOR WORK-- WASHING DISHES IN A BOWERY RESTAURANT + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN THE STREET AGAIN-- THE POLICE STATION-- VISITS THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE, AND +IS KINDLY RECEIVED BY THE EDITOR + +CHAPTER X. + +LIVING IN COMFORT AGAIN-- FEATURED AS "THE BOY REPORTER" + +CHAPTER XI. + +A DAY AND A NIGHT IN CONEY ISLAND-- RAIDING A GAMBLING DEN + +CHAPTER XII. + +A SUCCESSFUL REPORTER-- THE EDITOR DECIDES TO SEND HIM AS CORRESPONDENT TO +THE PHILIPPINES-- LEAVING NEW YORK-- IN CHICAGO + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SAN FRANCISCO-- THE TRANSPORT GONE-- WORKING HIS WAY TO HONOLULU BY PEELING +VEGETABLES ON A PACIFIC LINER-- THE CAPITAL OF HAWAII + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE VOYAGE ON THE TRANSPORT-- A STORM AT SEA-- ARRIVAL IN MANILA + +CHAPTER XV. + +ARCHIE STARTS OUT ON AN EXPLORING TOUR, AND HAS SOME STRANGE ADVENTURES +AMONG THE NATIVES-- SEIZED BY THE REBELS + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A PLEASANT CAPTOR-- BRAVE BILL HICKSON ALLOWS ARCHIE TO ESCAPE-- FIRST +GLIMPSE OF AGUINALDO + +CHAPTER XVII. + +ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICAN TROOPS-- ARCHIE THE HERO OF THE REGIMENT + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE MARCH AFTER THE REBELS-- THE FIRST BATTLE-- ARCHIE WOUNDED + +CHAPTER XIX. + +RETURN TO MANILA-- IN THE HOSPITAL-- CONGRATULATED BY ALL-- WRITING TO THE +PAPER OF HIS EXPERIENCES + +CHAPTER XX. + +AROUND THE ISLAND ON A WAR-SHIP-- BOMBARDING A FILIPINO TOWN + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CONTINUING THE CRUISE-- ANOTHER VILLAGE CAPTURED-- THE ADMIRAL ARCHIE'S +FRIEND-- A GREAT BATTLE AND AN UNEXPECTED VICTORY-- LONGING TO BE HOME AGAIN + +CHAPTER XXII. + +RETURN TO HEADQUARTERS-- A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR, WITH PERMISSION TO RETURN +TO NEW YORK-- BILL HICKSON GOES, TOO + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +HONG KONG-- A HAPPY TIME IN TOKIO-- HONOLULU AGAIN-- ARRIVAL IN SAN +FRANCISCO, AND A GREAT RECEPTION BY THE PRESS-- ARCHIE AND BILL ARRIVE IN +NEW YORK, AND ARE THE HEROES OF THE HOUR + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +DOING "SPECIAL" WORK UPON THE EVENING PAPER-- INTERVIEWS WITH FAMOUS MEN-- +CALLS UPON OLD FRIENDS + +CHAPTER XXV. + +PRIVATE SECRETARY TO A MILLIONAIRE-- STUDYING AT EVENING SCHOOL-- LIVING +AMID ELEGANT SURROUNDINGS + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +DECIDES TO VISIT HOME-- A GREAT RECEPTION IN THE TOWN-- A PUBLIC CHARACTER +NOW-- DINNER TO THE HUT CLUB-- DEMONSTRATION AT THE TOWN HALL-- A TELEGRAM +FROM HIS EMPLOYER LEAVING FOR EUROPE + _________________________________________________________________ + + THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY REPORTER. + + CHAPTER I. + + LIVING IN THE COUNTRY-- LIFE AT SCHOOL-- THE HUT CLUB IS FORMED-- THE + COMING OF THE CIRCUS. + +"YES," said Mrs. Dunn to her neighbour, Mrs. Sullivan, "we are +expecting great things of Archie, and yet we sometimes hardly know +what to think of the boy. He has the most remarkable ideas of things, +and there seems to be absolutely no limit to his ambition. He has long +since determined that he will some day be President, and he expects to +enter politics the day he is twenty-one." + +"Is that so, indeed," said Mrs. Sullivan. "Well, we can never tell +what is going to come of our boys. As I says to Dannie to-day, says I, +'Dannie, you must do your best to be somebody and make something of +yourself, for you and Jack bees all that I has to depend upon now.' +But Dannie pays no attention to my entreaties, and somehow it seems to +me that since Mr. Sullivan died the boys are gettin' worse and worse. +It's beyond me to control them, anyhow." + +"Oh, take heart, Mrs. Sullivan," said Mrs. Dunn, "our boys will all +turn out well in the end, and all we can do is to bring them up in the +best way we know, and trust to them to take care of themselves after +they leave home. Now Dannie is certainly an industrious lad. I hear +him pounding nails all day long in the back yard, and he made a good +job of shingling the woodshed the other day. He seems made to be a +carpenter." + +"Yes, I think so myself," said the Widow Sullivan. "The whole lot of +them is out by the railroad now, building a hut. They've organised a +'Hut Club' to-day, and never a lick of work have I had out of them +boys since mornin'. They've always got something going on, and when I +want a bit of water from the well, or a little wood from the shed, +they're never around." + +"Yes, but boys will be boys, Mrs. Sullivan, and we'd better keep them +contented at home as long as we can. They'll be leaving us soon +enough. It seems that no boys are content to stay in town any longer; +they're all anxious to be off to the city." + +"That's true, that's true, Mrs. Dunn," said Mrs. Sullivan. "I must be +going now. I'm much obliged for the rain-water, and whenever you want +a bit of milk call over the fence, and I'll bring it to you with +pleasure. It's a good neighbour you are, Mrs. Dunn." + +And Mrs. Sullivan went slowly around the house and out at the front +gate, while good Mrs. Dunn returned to her ironing, a few clothes +having to be ready for Sunday. + +While these mothers were discussing their boys, the youngsters +themselves were busy behind the barn, building a hut down near the +railway track. There were six of them altogether, the three extra +ones, besides Archie Dunn and the Sullivan boys, having come from +across the railway to play for the day. Two hours before they had +solemnly organised themselves into the "Hut Club," each boy walking +three times around the block blindfolded, and swearing upon his return +to be true to all the rules and regulations of the organisation, which +had been written with chalk on the side of the barn. The regulations +were numerous, but the most important one was that no East Side boys +were to be allowed within the club-room when it was built, and that +the club's policy should be one of warfare against the East Siders on +every occasion when they met. This fight against the East Side was, +indeed, responsible for the organisation of the club. It was felt +necessary to have some head to their forces, and some means of holding +together. So the club was organised, and now the next thing on the +programme was the erection of a hut to serve as a club-house. Archie +Dunn, who had been elected president, volunteered to get three boards +and a hammer if the other boys would each get two boards and some +nails. This proposition was agreed to, and when the boys returned from +their foraging expeditions it was found that there were more than +enough boards to build the hut, so the work began at once. Holes were +dug in the ground, and some posts planted as supports for the +structure, and then the boards were hastily nailed together from post +to post. In three hours the hut was practically completed, and it +remained only to lay a floor until they could hold their first meeting +in the new club-house. The floor itself was down by noon, and the club +then served a memorable dinner to mark the completion of the +structure. + +A hole was dug in the ground outside the door, and a furnace made. A +skillet was brought from Archie's house, together with some dishes and +a coffee-pot, and Dan Sullivan brought some more dishes, and six eggs +from his nests under the barn. The boys were obliged to make several +trips to and from the houses, but finally nearly everything was ready, +and the eggs were carefully cooked by Archie, who was really a good +housekeeper, from long experience in the kitchen with his mother. Some +potatoes were fried in the grease remaining in the skillet after the +eggs were cooked, and then the feast began. The eggs may have been +rather black with grease, and the potatoes were certainly not done, +but the boys all pronounced it the finest meal of their lives, +notwithstanding the bitter coffee, and the dirty bread, which had been +allowed to fall into the gutter beside the railway track. They were +eating in their own house, and they had cooked in the open air, "just +like tramps," Harry Rafe said, and it was little wonder that they +enjoyed the novel experience. + +The only trouble came when the meal was finished. No one wanted to +wash the dishes, and, finally, it was decided to return them to their +respective kitchens just as they were, and to let them be washed with +the rest of the dinner dishes at home. And this decision came near +putting an end to Hut Club dinners, for both Mrs. Dunn and the Widow +Sullivan were determined not to wash any more dirty dishes from the +hut. + +When the meal was over, the boys lounged about the hut, and Dan +Sullivan brought a lot of things from his sister's playhouse with +which to furnish it more suitably. Archie Dunn brought a lot of hay +from the loft in his mother's barn, and when a piece of old carpet was +spread upon it it made an acceptable couch. A piece of old carpet was +laid in front of the hut, too, where the boys could sit and watch the +trains switching back and forth on the railway, and the tramps who +were heating coffee in cans over by the cattle-pen. + +Finally, some cattle arrived in the pen to be loaded into cars for the +city, and the boys had just decided to go and watch the men loading +them, when an engine came up the side-track with the most beautiful +car they had ever seen, behind it. The car was painted in all colours +of the rainbow, and in giant letters was printed the magic name of +"The World's Greatest Show." + +The boys lost no time in getting down from the cattle-pen fence, and +the car had barely stopped when they were aboard. "Hooray," shouted +Charlie Huffman, "we'll all get jobs of passin' bills." And it was +with this end in view that they sought the advertising manager in the +car, who promised to give them all jobs when the circus came in two +weeks. The boys deluged him with questions of every sort. "Will there +be any elephants?" "Is there goin' to be a parade?" and "Will there be +any trapeze performances?" The poor man was finally obliged to lock +the door to keep them out, and the boys stood about the car until +nearly six o'clock, admiring the paintings, and speculating as to +whether they would be able to work their way into the circus or not, +when it finally came. Their speculations were interrupted by the +appearance on the scene of the Widow Sullivan with a good-sized maple +switch, which she used to good effect in getting the two Sullivans and +Archie Dunn home for supper. For Mrs. Dunn had given Mrs. Sullivan +instructions before she started, so that when Archie complained that +he had been whipped by "that woman next door," he received no sympathy +whatever. + +And when he went to bed at nine o'clock, he could hardly sleep for +thinking of the wonderful things which had happened this day. The +coming circus and the great Hut Club kept him awake until far after +ten, so that he got up too late for Sunday school the next morning, +and was punished accordingly. + +The next week was a hard one at school, and the boys had but little +time to devote to the club. But after four o'clock in the afternoon +they sometimes got together and did various things which improved +their club-house. Some very fair chairs were constructed from empty +soap boxes, and various contrivances were put together to guard +against the intrusion of any East Siders or tramps while they were +away at school. There was no padlock used, and any one coming up to +the hut would imagine it a simple thing to enter-- until he tried. But +the boys had fixed a secret cord which, when pulled, shifted the bar +inside, and every boy was sworn not to betray the existence of the +cord. + +The day set for the circus came nearer and nearer, and the boys began +to be anxious for fear the schools would not close, so that they could +attend. But the superintendent finally announced that they would; so +early on the eventful day the entire club was on the grounds, waiting +to get some work to do. Archie Dunn got the first job, being selected +to carry water for the elephant because he was stronger than any of +the others. But the rest were given something to do, and when the day +was over they had all seen the circus, and went to bed happy, to dream +of the great trip to be taken by the Hut Club on the next Saturday. + + CHAPTER II. + + ARCHIE LONGS FOR A CHANGE IN SURROUNDINGS-- A TRIP TO NEW YORK WITH UNCLE + HENRY. + +THE Hut Club went out on a picnic the next Saturday, and had a jolly +time. They camped upon an island in the middle of a shallow stream, +and while there made coffee and cooked their dinner, having brought +most of the necessary apparatus from the Hut. They fished a little, +and hunted for turtles in the water, and altogether had a good time, +if nothing exciting did occur. It was after nine o'clock at night when +they reached town again, footsore and weary, and Archie Dunn had +hardly entered the house before he was on the dining-room lounge, +half-asleep. His mother seemed to be out, and as he lay there he +wondered how long it would be before she came back. Archie truly loved +his mother, but of late he had often thought that he would like to +leave home and go to the famous city, where he felt sure he could get +something to do. But he disliked the idea of leaving his mother. + +"I'm getting to be a big boy, now," he often said to himself, "and +it's time that I began to look out for myself. I'm nearly seventeen, +and I think I ought to be earning some money. This thing of belonging +to Hut Clubs and spending my time in going to picnics and to circuses +ought to stop. It's all right for boys, but I'm getting to be a man, +now." + +All these thoughts were flying through his mind when his mother came +in. "Oh, Archie," she exclaimed, "I've been so worried about you. I've +just been over to Mrs. Sullivan's to see if Dannie had come home, and +whether he had seen you. Wherever have you been?" + +"We didn't think it would take so long to walk home," said Archie, +jumping up from the sofa, "but we were awfully tired, and we didn't +come very fast. I'm so sorry you were worried. + +"And I'm as hungry as a bear, mother. Can't you find me something to +eat?" + +"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Dunn, softly, "and when you've finished your +supper I have something for you. I won't give it to you now for fear +you won't be able to eat, but as soon as you have finished your meal, +you shall have it." + +So Archie was obliged to eat his baked beans and brown bread and drink +his milk without knowing what was in store for him, and he hurried as +fast as he could, so that he could learn. When he had finished he went +into the sitting-room, and found his mother sitting with a letter +spread open upon her lap. "Uncle Henry has written me asking if you +cannot go with him to New York on Monday, for a couple of days. He is +obliged to go down there on business, and says he will be glad to take +you along and show you something of the wonderful city, for he knows +you won't be any trouble to him. Now I hardly know what to say, +Archie. If I can feel that you are behaving yourself properly, and are +doing your best to be as little trouble as possible, I am willing that +you shall go." + +"Oh, mother," cried Archie, "I'll promise anything. Only let me go +this once, and I'll promise to stay at home all the rest of the +summer." + +"All right, then," said Mrs. Dunn. "You shall go on the first train +Monday morning, and Uncle Henry will join you at Heddens Corner. Run +along to bed now." + +Archie went up-stairs almost dumb with delight Was it really true that +he was to see the great city at last? He had heard some of the boys at +school telling what their fathers saw there, but he had never even +hoped that he would see it for himself so soon. Of course he had +determined to see it all some day, but that was to be far in the +future. The lad could hardly sleep for the joy of it all, and when he +did finally lose consciousness, it was only to dream of streets of +gold, and great buildings reaching to the skies. + +Sunday passed slowly by. At Sunday school, Archie told the boys that +be was going to New York on the morrow, and from that moment he was +the hero of the class. The boys looked at him with wondering +admiration, and seemed scarcely able to realise that one of their +number was to go so far from home. The city was in reality little more +than a hundred miles, but to their boyish minds this distance seemed +wonderfully great. + +Early on Monday morning Archie was at the depot waiting for the train. +His mother was there to see him off, and there were tears in her eyes +at the thought of parting with her only child, if only for a day or +two. And Archie was radiant with delight at the glorious prospect +ahead of him. He walked nervously up and down the platform, and wished +frequently that it were not so early in the morning, so that some of +the boys might be there to see him off. Finally, the great hissing +locomotive drew up, with its long train of coaches, and Archie was +soon aboard, hurrying off to Heddens Corner and the city. In a few +minutes Uncle Henry was with him, a tall, fine-looking man, with an +air of business. Uncle Henry kept the general store at the Corner, and +was an important person in the neighbourhood. He was of some +importance in the city, too, for his name was known in politics, and +his custom was always desired at the wholesale stores. So Archie was +going to see the city under good auspices, if his uncle would only +have time to take him about with him. + +After a couple of hours, during which Archie kept his face glued to +the window-pane, watching the flying landscape, the great train pulled +through a long, dark tunnel, and finally entered an immense shed, +covered with glass where it came to a final stop. Crowds left the +coaches, and passed out of the station, where they were swallowed up +in the great rush of traffic. Some drove away in cabs and carriages. +Some entered the street-cars, and some went up a stairway and entered +what seemed to Archie a railway train in the air. + +Uncle Henry told Archie to follow him carefully, and they, too, were +soon flying away from the neighbourhood of the terminal, past hotels, +stores, and dwellings, until they finally left the trolley-car, and +passed through a cross street into a long, quiet thoroughfare which +looked old enough to have been there for a hundred years. The houses +were built far back from the street, with pillars in front, and into +one of these quaint old dwellings went Archie and his uncle. + +"I always stop down-town," explained Uncle Henry, "because I am near +to the great wholesale establishments. It is central to the retail +stores, too, and to many of the places of interest." + +When they were settled in their room, Uncle Henry explained that he +would have to be away most of this first day, but that to-morrow he +would take Archie out and show him the sights. So Archie expected to +remain indoors all day; but when his uncle had left the house he +decided that he couldn't possibly remain in this close room when so +many wonderful things were taking place outside. So he decided to walk +up and down the street, anyhow, and when he went out he felt like a +prisoner just escaped from a cell. But the noise was terrible, and +there were a great many wagons and trucks passing through the street. +The greatest crowd seemed to be on that cross street about two blocks +away, so Archie decided to go there, and see if there was anything new +on that street. + +He saw many wonderful things. There were cars running along without +any apparent motive power, there were thousands and thousands of +people in the streets, and the stores looked so handsome and +interesting that he simply couldn't resist going into one or two of +them, just to see what they were like. And when he had finished with +one or two he could think of no reason why he shouldn't go on up the +street, where he was sure he would find a great many more interesting +things to see. So on and on he went, until at last he was tired and +hungry, and then, for the first time, he was a little frightened, +because he thought of all he had read about people losing their way in +the city, and not being able to find their relatives again. But he was +a brave boy, so he determined to make an effort to find his way back +without appealing to a policeman. And after a time he was successful, +and entered the queer old house in the ancient street at just three +o'clock in the afternoon. His uncle was there waiting for him, and was +nearly beside himself with apprehension. + +"I was about to send out a general alarm for you, at the police +station," he said. "How did you happen to go away?" + +"Oh, I was so very tired of staying in the house," said Archie, "and I +felt sure that I could find my way back without getting lost at all. +And to-morrow I'm sure I can get along all right, Uncle Henry, so you +needn't bother with me at all, unless you want to." + +And it so happened that Mr. Kirk was very busy the next day, and would +have found it quite impossible to show Archie about. So it was +fortunate that he was able to go everywhere alone, or he would have +had to return home without seeing anything at all of the city. + +As it was, he went here, there, and everywhere, and saw a great deal +of the city, the people, and the way in which they lived. The entire +place had a strange fascination for him, and all the time he was +thinking how glad he would be to live where he could see all this rush +of business, this varied life, every day. And he fully determined to +return some day and get something to do, so that he might work himself +up, and come to own one of the handsome houses on the avenues, or +drive one of the elegant carriages on the boulevard. And he observed +every boy who passed him, and talked with several of them, trying to +find out whether positions were easy to secure, and whether they paid +much when they were secured. + +So when they took the four o'clock train for home, and arrived at +Archie's house in time for supper, he told more about the city boys +and their work than about the tall buildings, the Brooklyn Bridge, or +the Central Park. He talked so much, in fact, about the delights of +the city boy, and the money he earned, that after he had gone to bed +Mrs. Dunn took her brother aside and talked with him concerning +Archie's future. And between them they definitely decided that Archie +must not go to the city to work. + + CHAPTER III. + + ARCHIE DETERMINES TO GO TO THE CITY TO WORK-- LEAVING HOME AT NIGHT. + +ARCHIE DUNN was not more ambitious than many other boys of his age, +but he possessed one quality which is not developed in every boy, +determination. Once Archie decided upon doing a thing, once he had +made up his mind that it was truly a good thing to do, nothing could +keep him from putting his plans into action, and making an effort, at +least, to accomplish his ends. Most boys of seventeen have not decided +what they want to become when they are men, and, until his visit to +the city, Archie was equally at sea concerning his future. He knew, of +course, that he wanted to be rich and famous, but when he tried to +think up some suitable profession which would bring him these +possessions, he was never able to decide. + +The two days in the city with Uncle Henry had opened to his boyish +mind a new world, and when he returned to the humble home surrounded +by gardens, he felt that he would never be satisfied to live and work +in this small town. There was now no question in his mind but what the +city was the place for any one who wished to become either rich or +famous. It would certainly be impossible for him to make a name for +himself in this village, while in the city he would have every +opportunity for improving himself, and advancing himself in every way. +He wondered, indeed, that he had never thought of going to New York +before, and was disgusted with himself when he thought of the time he +had wasted here at home. + +But there was no use in thinking of the past. The thing to do now was +to get to the city as quickly as possible, for to Archie every day +seemed precious, and each delay kept him further from the consummation +of his hopes. It never occurred to the boy that his mother might have +objections to his leaving home. She had always been very ambitious for +his future, and he supposed that she would be delighted at the idea of +having her boy in the great city, where he would have innumerable +chances for improving himself. So when they sat on the front porch, +one evening, and he told her of his plan, he was surprised to hear his +mother pleading with him to remain at home. "Archie," she said, "I am +almost sure you will come to some bad end in the city. You really must +not go, for my sake, if for no other reason." + +"But, mother, I can't remain here in town always. I must go out into +the world some time to earn a living and make a place for myself, and +I think the sooner I go the better, don't you?" + +"Yes, Archie, but you're so young, and you've had no experience. You +have no idea of the things there are in great cities to drag young men +down. I don't think I could stand it to have you so far away from home +and in such danger." + +"Well, mother," said Archie, "there isn't much use in arguing about +it. I have reached a point where I don't think I can be any longer +satisfied at home. I have been here seventeen years, and I think I can +remain here that much longer without improving myself. In the city I +am sure I can make rapid progress, and in a year or two you can come +there and live with me." + +Archie got up from the porch and went down the street, while poor Mrs. +Dunn ran over next door to see her neighbour, Mrs. Sullivan. When she +had entered the disorderly kitchen, and seated herself on one of the +home-made chairs, the anxious mother burst into tears. "I don't know +what to think of Archie, Mrs. Sullivan," she said. "He is determined, +now, to go to New York, and I know that if he goes I will never be +able to see him again. I am nigh distracted with worrying over it. I +have talked with him, but he seems determined, and I know I can never +hold out against his entreaties and arguments." + +"Sure, now, Mrs. Dunn," said the Widow Sullivan, "don't yez be a +worryin' about 'im at all. That Archie is a smart boy, he is, and if +he goes to New York he'll come out all right, never fear, I only wish +my Dannie had as much get-up about him as your boy." + +"Yes, yes, Archie is very ambitious for his age," said Mrs. Dunn, "but +I sometimes wish he were less so. I know I could keep him at home +longer if he wasn't so anxious to be at work. I don't believe I can +let him go, Mrs. Sullivan, not yet. I want him to stay in school +another year, and then I'll think about it." + +"Well, ye're wise, Mrs. Dunn, ye're a wise woman," said the Widow +Sullivan. "Since yer husband died ye've been a good mother to the lad, +and have brought 'im up well. And now, how is yer chickens, Mrs. Dunn? +Have ye got that cochin hen a 'settin'' yit?" + +And the two women began to discuss their various fowls, and the +conversation was so interesting that Mrs. Dunn remained late, and +found Archie in bed when she went home. "Ah, well, poor boy, I'll have +to tell him of my decision in the morning. He'll be terribly +disappointed, and I hate to do it I'm afraid it's selfishness that +makes me want to keep him with me. I almost wish he would take things +into his own hands, and start for the city himself. I would be rid +then of the responsibility of sending him, and the question would be +settled for me. Boys sometimes know best how to settle their own +difficulties, anyhow." + +Mrs. Dunn kneaded the bread before retiring, for to-morrow was +Saturday, and, therefore, baking-day, and then she went into her +little room off the kitchen, and prayed earnestly for her boy before +sleeping. She prayed that she might be helped in advising him, and +that he might always do what was best for himself and for his mother. + +The next day was Saturday, and in the morning the Hut Club met, as +usual, and prepared to have an open-air dinner for this day. The +furnace, which had been knocked down during the week by the East +Siders, was rebuilt, and the skillet and other utensils were brought +from the nearest kitchens. Archie went to the grocery around the +corner and bought five cents' worth of cakes, and then the six boys +sat down in a circle and prepared to devour their home-made feast. But +before they began Archie stood up. "I want to say that this will +probably be my farewell dinner with the club," he said, in a low tone, +"and I hope that you will appoint another president in my place." + +The boys were horror-struck, but Archie refused to explain where and +when he was going. Finally, they refused to appoint another president, +all agreeing that Archie should hold that office for ever, wherever he +was. And the meal was eaten in silence, for the announcement had +thrown a sort of chill over the proceedings. When they had finished, +Archie silently shook hands with each of the boys, who were dumb with +amazement, gathered up his skillet and coffee-pot, and went home +through the gate to the chicken-lot. + +"I wonder what he's goin' to do," they all said, as in one breath, and +as there was seldom much fun in the club when Archie was absent, they +all went home in a few minutes, or down-town to watch the farmers, who +were in town to do their weekly buying. + +When Archie reached home he went up-stairs to his little room, and +began to lay out a few things which he wanted to take with him, for he +had determined to start for New York this very night. Then he tied the +things up in a small bundle, and sat down to write a note to his +mother. When he had finished it, he pinned it up at the head of his +cot, and this is what it said: + + "MY DARLING MOTHER:-- Please don't worry about me, I'm bound to + come through all right, and if anything happens to me, I promise + that I will write to you immediately and let you know. I have the + ten dollars which I have saved, and if I don't get work at once I + will write to you for some more. Now, I am not doing this thing for + the sake of adventure, but because I am sure it is the best thing + for me, and I don't want you to worry at all. I shall write to you + often and let you know just what I'm doing, so don't worry, but be + a brave mother. I'm not going off this way as a sneak, but because + I want to avoid a 'scene.' + + "Your loving + + "ARCHIE." + +And at three o'clock the next morning Archie Dunn got out of bed, +shouldered his bundle, and started off for the great city, which +seemed to be drawing him like a magnet. + + CHAPTER IV. + + WORKING ON A FARM TO EARN SOME MONEY-- CRUEL TREATMENT. + +WHEN daylight came, Archie was far out of the town walking quickly +along the southern road. He figured that he had walked nearly six +miles in the two hours since he had let himself out of the back door +at home, and, as he looked ahead, he planned that he would walk at +least thirty miles every day. Of course, he had never done much +walking before, or he would have known better than to have expected to +accomplish so much in twelve hours, but he felt fresh and full of +strength this morning, and nothing seemed too hard to accomplish. As +yet he had not regretted his departure from home. The excitement of it +all, and the adventurous side of his exploit, had kept him interested, +and made him feel that he was a real hero. But he was not so foolish +as to imagine that there would not be times when he would regret +having set out for New York. He was too old and too sensible for his +age to allow his ambition to run away with him entirely, and he fully +expected to meet with many great discouragements. "But I'm sure of one +thing," he said to himself, as he walked along, "I never will return +home until I have something to show for the trip. I won't have the +club boys and the neighbours saying that Archie Dunn had to come home +discouraged. If I return without accomplishing anything, I will be +held up to the whole town as a boy who made a fool of himself by not +taking his friends' advice, and I never will be made an example of if +I can help it." And Archie walked faster as he thought of the +possibility of failure. + +When seven o'clock came he was passing through the county-seat, but +though there were many interesting things to look at in the town, +Archie determined not to stop. He was afraid he might meet some one he +knew, who would be sure to ask him where he was going with his bundle, +and what he was doing out so early. And anyhow he was very hungry, and +decided to get out of the town and to the farmhouses as soon as +possible. "I can work for my meal at a farmhouse," he said to himself, +"but in the town they'll take me for a regular tramp." + +So poor Archie walked quickly through the town, still keeping to the +southern road, and saying to himself, as he passed every milestone, +"So much nearer New York." About a mile out in the country he came to +a large farmhouse, and he determined to enter and ask for a meal. He +had hard work to muster up enough courage to go in and ask for +anything, but finally he knocked timidly at the kitchen door, and was +frightened by a large dog which came barking around the corner. It +seemed to him that the animal would surely bite, but a large fat woman +opened the door just in time to let him in. "Hurry in, boy," she said, +"fer there's no tellin' what Tige might do ef he once gets a hold of +ye." So Archie stepped into the large kitchen, with its rafters +overhead, and its dining-table in the corner. "Sit down, boy," said +the woman. "I reckon you's thet new lad thet's come ter work over at +Mullins's, ain't ye?" + +"No'm," said Archie, "I don't work anywhere. I'm on my way to New +York, where I expect to find a position, and I thought perhaps you'd +allow me to do a little work here this morning to earn my breakfast." + +Good Mrs. Lane, for that was the woman's name, was horrified to think +that any one was alive and without breakfast at eight o'clock in the +morning. "Goodness me!" said she. "Why, you must be half-famished fer +want of food, ain't ye?" And she bustled about the kitchen, putting +the kettle on to boil, and stirring up the fire. "You'll have some +nice ham and eggs, my boy, and then I have somethin' in mind fer you. +I reckon yer ain't in no hurry ter get ter the city, be ye? Well, even +if ye do be in a hurry, I reckon you'll be glad of the chance to earn +four dollars. I ain't goin' to ask ye no questions about how ye come +to be walkin' to New York, because I never wuz no hand ter meddle in +other folkses affairs, but ye look to be a likely lad, and a strong +un, and ez my sister's husband, what lives two miles down the pike, +needs a boy to drive a plough fer a week, I b'lieve ye'll suit 'im +first-rate. So ez soon ez ye have finished yer vittles, I'll walk down +there with ye, and we'll see the old man." + +Archie hardly knew whether to be delighted with the prospect or not. +Of course four dollars would be nice to have, but he was anxious to +get to the city as soon as possible, and every day counted. But +perhaps it would be wrong, he thought, to throw away such a good +chance to earn some money, and he had decided to accept any offer the +farmer made him, long before he finished his breakfast. When he got up +from the straight-backed chair, he felt that he had never eaten a +better meal in his life, and when Mrs. Lane started off down the road, +he gladly followed her. A week on such a farm as this would be no +unpleasant experience. Such food was not to be had every day, he knew, +and he of course would have precious little that was good to eat when +he reached the city. + +They soon covered the two miles, Mrs. Lane getting along very fast for +such a large woman, and at last they stood before Hiram Tinch, who +owned the farm. Archie was made to describe his intentions, and was +thoroughly examined by Mr. Tinch. He told the farmer that he knew +nothing about farm work, but Mr. Tinch said he would soon teach him, +and it was settled that Archie was to remain on the farm a week. Mrs. +Lane went inside the house to see her sister, who looked sick with too +much work, and the farmer told Archie that he might as well start in, +as there was no object in waiting. So the boy donned a pair of "blue +jean" trousers, and was taken into a field, where a one-horse plough +was standing. Archie knew how to hitch a horse, so he went to the +stable and secured his steed, and then harnessed him to the plough. +The farmer didn't see fit to give him any instructions about +ploughing, and the poor boy hardly knew what to do, but rather than +ask he started off, and tried to guide the animal in the right +direction, as far as he knew it. Of course the horse went wrong, and +the plough refused to stay in the earth, and altogether the attempt +was a miserable failure. The farmer leaned against the fence, picking +his teeth with a pin, but when he saw the horse going crooked, and the +plough bounding along over the earth, his face grew livid with anger. +For a minute he seemed unable to speak, but strode toward Archie with +a fierce look in his eyes. Then he found his tongue, and opened such a +tirade of vile words that the poor boy shrank from him in terror. He +was in mortal fear lest the man should lay hands on him and commit +some crime, so intense was his rage, but Hiram Tinch seemed to know +how far to go, and after five minutes of cursing and swearing he took +the plough in his own hands, and guided it through the earth. "Now +take it," he growled at Archie, when he had gone a furrow's length, +"and see ef ye can do better this time. Remember, not a bite of dinner +do ye get until this field is ploughed." + +Poor Archie was weak from fright, but there was nothing to do but to +obey. He looked at the vast field before him, and made up his mind +that he would get nothing to eat until night, anyhow, for it was +already nearly noon. He felt very much like bursting into tears, but +he was too proud to give way to his feelings. But he couldn't help +wishing that he were at home, playing with the members of the Hut +Club. "Those boys are much better off than I am," he said, over and +over, "though they have made no effort to improve themselves." After a +time, however, his ambition returned, and as he looked ahead into the +future, and remembered the wonderful things he was going to +accomplish, he felt more like working. + +He finished the field at five o'clock in the afternoon, and was almost +fainting from hunger and from the hard work. The ploughing was fairly +well done, but Hiram Tinch could see no merit in the work. He swore at +Archie again, and gave him a supper of mush and milk. Mrs. Tinch sat +by, and Archie could see that she did not approve of his treatment. +The poor woman seemed afraid to speak, almost, but it was plain that +she had a good heart. So when Archie heard a noise in his garret room +that night, he was not surprised to see Mrs. Tinch at the window, +placing some doughnuts and sandwiches there for him to eat. + + CHAPTER V. + + THE NIGHT AMONG THE RUINS-- THE CAMP-FIRE OF THE TRAMPS. + +IT seemed to Archie that he had just fallen asleep when old Hiram +Tinch was shaking him awake. "Git up out o' here now, ye lazy beggar, +and git to the field and finish that there ploughin'," he growled, and +the frightened lad awakened from a horrible nightmare, only to find a +worse experience awaiting him in the light of day. He hastily drew on +his trousers, and didn't wait to don either shoes or stockings, for if +he was to spend the day ploughing in a field, he knew he would be more +comfortable in his bare feet. When he reached the kitchen, he found +that Farmer Tinch had already eaten his breakfast, though it was not +daylight. Archie was glad that he was out of the way, and good Mrs. +Tinch was glad of it, too, for she was able to give the boy a good +breakfast, and some good advice with it. "Don't you pay no attention +to what my man says, laddie. He's a powerful man to swear and carry +on, but I don't think he'll have the meanness to strike you. Ef he +does, ye must come to me, and I'll see thet he doesn't do it no more." + +Archie was grateful for this spirit of friendliness, but in his heart +he thought that cruel words were often more painful than lashes, and +he heartily wished that his week was over. + +All this day he spent on the farm, without once going into the road. +Farmer Tinch had warned him that if he saw him making for the road at +any time, he could go and never come back, and he would forfeit what +money he had already earned. So Archie ploughed the field from +daylight till dark, with a half hour at noon for a hurried dinner. He +was glad when darkness came, and after another supper of mush and milk +he was thankful to have a corn-husk bed to sleep on, and was soon in a +stupor which was so sound as to be almost like death. + +Again the next morning he was awakened at daylight, and he was made to +work even harder than on the second day. He had by this time become +somewhat used to the labour, however, and stood it better. He was more +successful in his work, too, and Farmer Tinch had less opportunity for +cursing him. But at night he seemed more tired, even, than before, and +he longed for his home again. He thought of the cosy bed he would now +be enjoying if he had only taken his mother's advice, and he felt +almost like getting up in the night and stealing away on the road to +the north. But, always a sensible lad, Archie realised that this +discouragement could not last, and he lost himself in sleep, looking +forward three days, when his week should be up, and he would be on his +way to the city, with four dollars more to add to his slender store. + +The three days passed slowly, but at length the Saturday night came, +and he prepared to be off. But good Mrs. Tinch entreated him to remain +with them over Sunday, and, as Archie wasn't sure that it would be +quite right for him to travel on Sunday, he decided to do so. So the +next day he brushed his only suit of clothes, and drove with his late +employer to church, where Farmer Tinch sat in a front seat and passed +the bread and wine at communion. Archie's heart rose to his throat as +he saw this paragon so devout in church. He felt like rising in his +seat and denouncing him before all the people as a tyrant and a +hard-hearted wretch. But he kept quiet, though he found it impossible +to partake of the communion under such circumstances. + +The Tinches had brought their dinner with them, and at noon they all +sat on one of the grassy mounds in the churchyard, to take some +refreshment before the afternoon service began. When they had +finished, Archie wandered off, and came to a crowd of boys who were +romping behind the church. When they saw him approach, they all +stopped their noise, and looked at him wonderingly. Evidently they +were not used to seeing strange boys. The silence was soon broken, +however, by one of the boys calling out, "Why, fellers, thet's the +chap what's been workin' fer Hiram Tinch." This announcement was +enough to make Archie an even greater object of interest than before, +for the boys seemed to think that any person who could work for Farmer +Tinch, and come out of the ordeal none the worse for wear, must be +something wonderful. Archie was soon on good terms with them all, +however, and told them of his plan of going to New York. The boys were +all attention, and soon he was the hero of the occasion. When the bell +rung for the afternoon service he was still telling them of the things +he was going to do, and none of them wanted to go into the church. +Archie persuaded them to enter, however, but he was not surprised to +meet them all along the road when he left Tinch's early Monday +morning. + +It was almost time to go to bed when they reached the farmhouse that +night, so Archie went at once to his attic, being anxious to start +fresh on his journey the next day. He was now determined to push on as +rapidly as possible, hoping to reach the city within three or four +days. He was somewhat afraid that he wouldn't be able to do this, but +he was going to try, anyhow. + +At daylight Monday morning he was on the way, and when the various +boys he met the day before said good-bye to him and wished him good +luck, he felt that his stay at Tinch's had not been without benefits +of some sort. He had made some boy friends, and he was four dollars +richer, Archie was sensible enough, too, to realise that his +experience would be a valuable one to him in the future. He knew now +what hard work was, at any rate. + +The morning walk was delightful. The September weather was perfect, +and all along the road were fruit-trees laden with every sort of good +thing to eat a boy could wish for. And as the trees were on the public +thoroughfare, Archie did net hesitate to help himself freely as he +went along, so that he didn't require any meal at noon. + +As night drew near, however, he began to wonder what he would do for a +bed, and the question became more important with every hour. He had +come to no towns since morning, and knew that he couldn't expect to +reach one of any size until the next day, anyhow. There were +farmhouses, of course, but after his experience of the past week the +lad felt that he would rather remain outdoors all night than risk +being thrown in with another Hiram Tinch. He didn't know enough of +farmers to know that few of them resemble Mr. Tinch in nature, and he +did what he thought was best in keeping away from farmhouses after +this. + +It was five o'clock in the evening, and Archie was beginning to feel +very tired and hungry, when he came to the ruins of an old colonial +mansion, which lay far back from the road, surrounded by trees, and +almost hid with shrubbery. "How interesting," he thought to himself. +"It looks just like the pictures of old ruins we see in geographies. I +think I must go up and see what they look like at close range." And, +fired with a spirit of adventure, and making believe that he was an +explorer in an ancient country, the boy made his way through the trees +and shrubbery. The ruins looked more and more interesting as he +advanced. This had evidently been a magnificent estate at one time. +There were massive pillars which had once supported a stately portico +at the front of the house, and above all there rose a massive chimney, +which seemed to be exceedingly well preserved. As Archie came nearer, +he was surprised to notice a thin column of smoke rising from the top +of the chimney, and for a moment he stood still with fright. What +could this mean? Who could be building a fire in the midst of these +ruins. It was almost like what one reads about in books, he thought. + +For some time he could not decide what to do, whether he had better +keep on, or whether the wisest policy would be to get back to the road +as quickly as possible. Finally, his curiosity and thirst for +adventure persuaded him to go on, and he continued to push his way +through the shrubbery until he stood before the ruins. He then climbed +a flight of steps, and stood in what had once been the main entrance +to this massive palace. Before him he saw a scene which was almost +weird in its unusualness. A fire of pine-knots was blazing in the +ruins of the great fireplace, and seated in a semicircle around the +fire were several men of picturesque appearance, whose faces looked up +angrily when they were disturbed. + + CHAPTER VI. + + STEALING A RIDE-- KICKED OUT BY THE BRAKEMAN. + +ARCHIE was dumbfounded. Never before had he been among such a motley +crowd, and his first impulse was to turn and run. But on second +thought he decided that it would be best to put on a bold face and +walk up to the men. This he did, and when he reached the fire the men +jumped up and asked him who he was. In a few words he told them his +simple story, and they all laughed and sat down again about the fire, +making a place for him. "You're one of us, then, laddie," said the +leader of the gang. "We're all soldiers of fortune, all dependent upon +the generous public for our livelihood. But we're not goin' to the +city. There's nothin' there for us, and our advice to you is for you +to steer clear of the place, too. Them police takes ye and throws ye +into jail as quick as a wink, and there's no chance of gettin' +anythink to eat at basement doors, neither. They're all on to us, +there, laddie, and ye'd better stick to the country." + +This bit of advice was endorsed by the entire company, and it was in +vain that Archie tried to make them understand that he was no ordinary +tramp, walking about the country in search of an easy time. He tried +to tell them that he was going to the city to work, not to beg; but +the leader, a big, dirty fellow, weighing two hundred pounds or over, +said, "Never mind, laddie, we knows you've run away from home to get +away from the folks, and we appreciates yer position. If yer a mind to +stand by us, we'll stand by you, and see thet ye comes to no harm." + +On thinking things over, Archie decided that it was perhaps the wisest +thing for him to appear to sympathise with the tramps, and make +himself agreeable while with them. He had undoubtedly run into a gang +of the worst sort of vagabonds, and there was no way of getting away +from there without arousing their suspicions. So he partook of their +slender meal, and joined in the general laughter when the leader, +"Fattie Foy," made some crude attempt at punning. The meal was one to +be remembered. The coffee had been heated in an empty tomato can over +the fire, and from its taste was evidently a combination of various +collections made from the farmhouses round about. Besides the coffee +there was a various collection of sandwiches and bread and butter, and +two pieces of cake. One man had succeeded in striking a good house, +and came back laden with pickles and crackers and cheese, which were +probably the remains of some picnic basket. Another fellow had brought +some pieces of cold bacon, and these were warmed on sticks over the +fire until they looked really appetising. From some barn had come a +half-dozen fresh eggs, and these were quickly boiled in a can of hot +water, and made a very fair showing on the slab of granite which +served as a table. + +When everything was ready the provisions were equally divided among +the crowd, and every one shared alike. It made no difference how much +more one man collected than another, it was always shared with the +entire crowd. Poor Archie found it almost impossible to eat, but the +men insisted that he take something, so he did manage to swallow a few +sips of coffee and eat a slice of bread and butter. But as he looked +about him at the dirty hands and faces, and the filthy garments of the +tramps, he determined not to eat again while with them. + +When the meal was over the two tin cans were washed at a spring of +water, and as it was now quite dark, they all sat close to the fire, +in order to see. Some one produced a pack of dirty cards, and they +began a game of some kind. Archie was asked to join, but he told them +he didn't know anything about card-playing. The poor lad was beginning +to wish he had never left home, and felt more miserable than at any +other period of the journey. He walked over to a corner of the ruins +where the light from the fire did not penetrate, and, once there, he +sat down and sobbed bitterly for a time. When he had finished crying +it seemed impossible for him to sleep. The scene about the fire +fascinated him. The men were seated in every sort of picturesque +attitude, and as the flickering light fell upon their dark faces it +wasn't hard for the poor lad to imagine that he had fallen among a +crowd of brigands. He watched them as they played until he could see +no longer, and then he fell into a sound sleep. + +When Archie woke it was still dark, but the moon was shining brightly +overhead, making everything as light as day. He rubbed his eyes and +sat up, and it was some time before he could realise where he was. +Then, as he saw the tramps lying about the ground, he remembered his +adventures of the night before, and, horrified that he had allowed +himself to sleep, he hastily jumped up, and determined to get away +from the ruins as quickly as possible. The tramps were all sleeping +soundly, and the only noises to be heard were the sound of their +breathing and the blood-curdling hoot of some owl perched on the +pillars of the old portico. The boy picked his way carefully between +the bodies of the sleeping men, and in a minute stood once more on the +grand flight of steps outside. He was trembling for fear some tramp +would awake and prevent his going, and when a bat brushed him in its +flight he almost screamed with terror. Far out beyond the trees and +the shrubby he could see the road glistening in the moonlight, and he +made his way as rapidly as possible out of the grounds, and was once +more on his way to the city. + +It was lonesome work, walking along a country road at night, and +Archie remembered with longing his cosy bed at home. The feeling of +homesickness kept growing within him, despite his efforts to down it, +and when at last the glorious autumn sun rose over the eastern horizon +he was miserable with longing for mother and for home. But he was too +proud to even think of turning back. He must reach the city at all +hazards, homesick or not. + +Archie did not think of breakfast this morning. His experience of the +night before seemed to have taken away his appetite entirely, and his +only thought was to walk as fast as possible, so that he could reach +the city soon. About nine o'clock he entered the outskirts of a busy +town, and while there he observed that the railroad going to the city +passed through the place. All at once a new idea occurred to him. He +had so often heard men and boys tell of how they had stolen a ride +from one town to another. Why shouldn't he be able to get a ride on a +freight train to the city. Would it be wrong? Archie thought not, +since so many men did it. And anyhow it didn't seem a wicked thing to +cheat the railroad. He had heard people say that the company ought to +be cheated whenever possible, since it cheated so many others. So, +from being so tired and so anxious to reach New York, Archie decided +to try and steal a ride. He entered the yards, where a train was being +made up for the south, and there he saw a cattle-car with an open +door. He immediately jumped inside and shut the door, squeezing +himself into the farthest corner, hoping that he wouldn't be +discovered. He soon found that he wasn't alone, for a couple of tramps +were in the opposite corner, and they whispered to him not to make any +noise. "The brakie," they said, "will soon be 'round, and if he finds +ye he'll put us all in jail." + +Poor Archie grew pale at the thought of being put in jail, and huddled +himself closer in the corner. After a time the train started, and the +tramps, he noticed, climbed up into some sort of compartment under the +roof of the car, where they wouldn't be observed, leaving Archie alone +down-stairs. Things went smoothly for a time. The train went flying +along, and Archie counted every mile which brought him nearer to the +city. Finally the train pulled up at a crossing, and a brakeman came +along and threw open the door of the car. He was not long in +discovering the cowering figure in the corner, and his wrath was +dreadful to look upon. "So, ye cussed vagabond," he growled, "ye +thought ye'd steal a ride, did ye? Get out o' this now. Quick, out +with ye." Archie could have fainted, and, as it was, he almost fell +out of the car, propelled by the brakeman's boot. For awhile he stood +dazed beside the track, and finally moved on. "I'll keep a 'stiff +upper lip,'" he said, "whatever happens." But this was by far the most +discouraging adventure yet. + + CHAPTER VII. + + ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK-- A NIGHT IN A LODGING-HOUSE. + +ON and on for the rest of the day walked Archie. His feet were sore, +he was weak from hunger, and he was made miserable with being +homesick. People who met him on the road turned around to look at the +slender lad with the pale face and the weary step, but he kept walking +on, stopping for nothing, and noticing no one. At noon he picked some +apples in an orchard, and these appeased his hunger. When evening drew +near, however, he felt that he could go without food no longer, so he +didn't hesitate to stop at a house and ask for food. "I know mother +would give a boy food if one should come to our door," he said to +himself, "so I do not think it wrong for me to ask for food here." He +was fortunate enough to strike a pleasant housewife, who took him in +and made him sit down at the kitchen table, which she covered with +good things to eat. There was cold roast beef, some fried potatoes and +a glass of good fresh milk. And then she gave him some apple pie, so +that when he had finished Archie felt better than for many a day. +While he ate he told the good woman why he was going to New York, and +her sympathy was enlisted at once. "Why, you poor lad," she exclaimed, +"just to think of your being in the city all alone. And what will your +mother think?" + +Archie couldn't imagine what his mother did think. He had remembered +her every minute during the last few days, and was anxious to write +her, so he decided to ask the woman for some paper and a pencil. These +were gladly given him, and he sat down and told his mother that he was +almost to New York and that he had been having a splendid time. He was +careful not to say anything about his experience with Farmer Tinch, or +the night he spent with the tramps. He knew these things would only +make her unhappy, and it was just as well that she should think +everything was smooth sailing for him. His letter was filled with his +enthusiasm and his hope for the morrow, so that when good Mrs. Dunn +received it she was overjoyed, and hurried over to show it to the +Widow Sullivan, who enjoyed it thoroughly and said "I told you so." +Poor Mrs. Dunn had been having a very miserable time of it. She was +hardly surprised that morning when she awoke and found Archie gone, +but she was naturally much worried for fear some accident would happen +to him before he reached New York. Once there, she felt that she +needn't worry much about him, for, strange to say, Mrs. Dunn had a +firm belief in the ability of city policemen to take care of every +one, and she knew that Archie would not be allowed to suffer for want +of food and a place to sleep. And when she received this letter, +saying that Archie was nearly to New York, and had even been so +successful as to earn some money, she felt more comfortable than for +some time, Of course she supposed that he would be home before long. +She was positive that he wouldn't be able to get any work in the city, +and knew that as soon as his money gave out he would return. "It's all +for the best," she said to Mrs. Sullivan. "The habit of running away +from home was born in the boy. His father left home when he was no +older than Archie, and no harm ever came to him. So I'm not going to +worry, Mrs. Sullivan." And then Mrs. Dunn would go back to her home, +and at sight of Archie's old hat or some of his football +paraphernalia, would burst into tears. + +The good woman who gave Archie his supper refused to let him start out +again on the road that night. She told him that he must remain with +them, for they had an extra bed up over the kitchen which was never +needed, and that he might just as well sleep there as not. So for the +first time in nearly a week Archie slept comfortably, and, as he heard +the familiar sounds in the kitchen below him in the morning, it was +hard for him to make up his mind that he was not at home, and that it +was not his mother who was grinding the coffee in the kitchen below. +He heard the ham frying in the skillet, and the rattle of the dishes +as his hostess set the table, and then he dressed himself and hastened +downstairs, feeling ready for a good day's walking. + +When he had eaten his breakfast he started out again. The woman told +him that it was only about fifteen miles to New York, and that after +he had walked about six of them he could take a trolley-car and ride +the remainder of the distance for five cents. So he thanked her for +her kindness, and promised to let her know how he succeeded in the +city, for the woman was much interested in his future. He felt almost +sorry to leave the home-like place, but the prospect of reaching the +city this very day was enough to make him anxious to be off. He +covered the six miles to the trolley-car before eleven o'clock in the +morning, and then in an hour and a quarter more the trolley landed him +in lower New York. + +His sensations as he was whirled along the smooth pavements, past +beautiful buildings and handsome residences, may be better imagined +than described. After looking forward to this day for so long, he was +almost overcome at the realisation of his hopes, and took the utmost +delight in everything about him. When the car stopped at the terminus +of the line, he got out and walked up the busiest street in the +neighbourhood. He hardly knew what to do first, but continued walking +until he came to the New York end of the great Brooklyn Bridge. Then +he couldn't resist the desire to walk across the bridge, and he +started out upon the journey. Up the steps he walked, and soon he had +climbed as far as the middle of the magnificent structure. There he +stood for some time, looking out over Governor's Island, nestled like +a green egg in a nest of red buildings, and past Staten Island to the +open sea beyond It was all grander, more beautiful than anything he +had ever seen before, and he felt glad that he had come. Then in +another direction he saw the never-ending succession of buildings, +some tall, some low ones, but all inhabited with swarms of people. +"There are three million people in this great city," he said to +himself, "and over them in New Jersey, in those cities I see, there +are a million more, and I am one of four million." The thought was too +much for the boy, and he continued his walk across the bridge. Once +across, he came back again, for Brooklyn was a strange place to him. +In New York City he felt more at home, for he had at least spent two +days within its limits. + +Once back in the busy streets, he decided to look about for a cheap +place to stay for the night. It was the middle of the afternoon now, +and he felt that he ought to make some preparation. He knew better +than to apply at the police station for lodging, for he knew they +would probably turn him over to the famous Gerry Society, which would +send him back home before a day had passed, and then where would his +ambitions be? + +He remembered the place where he had stayed with Uncle Henry, but he +knew that this would be too high-priced for his pocketbook, so he +started up the Bowery, where he expected to find some very cheap +places. He didn't like the looks of the people he met in the street, +but his experiences on the way to New York had taught him not to be +too particular about a little dirt. So when he came to a rickety +building with a sign up, "Beds, ten and fifteen cents," he immediately +went up the dark, filthy stairway, and found himself in a large room +at the top which served as the "hotel" office. There were rows of +chairs in front of the windows and along the walls, and in the chairs +were the queerest-looking lot of men he had ever seen. He didn't pay +any attention to them, though, but went up to the seedy individual +behind the desk, and asked him if he could get a bed for the night. +"Sure, Mike," the man replied, and Archie signed his name in a dirty +book with torn pages. He paid the man ten cents, and asked if he could +leave his bundle while he went outside. "Sure, Mike," was again his +answer, and the man took his little bundle of necessities and threw +them on the floor behind the counter. When Archie had gone out, a fat +man with a baby face came up and whispered to the clerk. "Anything in +the bloke?" he inquired. "Nit," said the clerk, "don't yer see his +baggage? Does it look like there's anything in it?" And the mysterious +conversation closed, to be continued later in the evening. + + CHAPTER VIII. + + LOOKING FOR WORK-- WASHING DISHES IN A BOWERY RESTAURANT. + +AFTER a couple of hours spent in going about the streets, Archie went +into a place where he bought some coffee and rolls for his supper. He +paid only five cents for three sweet rolls and a large cup of coffee +which was not at all bad to taste, and he returned to the +lodging-house on the Bowery feeling better than he had expected to +feel when he started out from the homestead where he spent the +previous night, If he could get a good meal for five or ten cents, and +could sleep for ten cents more, he would have enough to keep him going +for some time. + +The Bowery at night presented a wonderful appearance to Archie's mind. +The brilliantly lighted shops, the cheap theatres with their bands of +musicians on the sidewalk in front of the entrance, were all +attractive to his boyish eyes, but he was wise enough to pass them all +by, and to make his way as quickly as possible to the cheap +lodging-house. The street was jammed with persons of every +description. He was surprised particularly at the number of Chinamen +he met, for he didn't know that a block or two away was the centre of +the Chinese population of New York, where the Celestials have their +theatre, their hotels, their great stores, and their joss-house. There +were many Italians in the street, too, and Polish Jews, to say nothing +of Frenchmen and Germans. Then there was the typical Bowery "tough," +who swaggered up and down, looking for trouble, which he usually finds +before an evening passes. Archie was not afraid in this cosmopolitan +crowd. No one seemed to notice him, and, anyhow, there were a great +many policemen about, who seemed to keep a sharp lookout all the time. +And as Archie shared his mother's faith in the city policeman, he felt +no fear. + +In the lodging-house everything looked very much as before. The chairs +were still occupied with filthy-looking men, who smoked and spat and +talked in undertones among themselves. The boy paid no attention to +any of them, but, walking up to the seedy individual behind the +counter, asked him if he could go to bed now. The man answered, +"Certainly," and sent a fellow with Archie to show him his bed. It was +in a long, narrow room, which was poorly lighted with a few gas-jets +here and there, and which was filled with about thirty beds, all +narrow, and all dirty. One of these was pointed out to Archie, and +then the man left him. The poor lad felt more homesick than ever, and +had it not been that he had a glorious to-morrow to look forward to, +he would have been very miserable indeed. As it was, he undressed and +got between the chilly sheets, when he remembered that he hadn't +looked after his little roll of bills for a long time, and that some +of them might be missing. He crawled out of bed again, and felt inside +the lining of his coat for the purse. He had sewed it there for +safe-keeping until he reached the city, for he had some little change +in his pocket, which he knew would last him for several days. + +The poor boy's hand felt nothing but a cut in the lining, where the +roll of bills had been, and all at once he realised that the money +must have been stolen from him. And he at once thought of the night in +the ruins, when he fell asleep among the tramps, and there was no +doubt in his mind but that they had taken his money from him. This was +a terrible blow. Here he was, with just a few cents in his pocket, and +no one to whom he could appeal for aid. It was the worst predicament +Archie had ever been in, and he hardly knew what to do. He sat on the +side of his dirty little bed for awhile, and then he snuggled under +the covers and was soon asleep again. For a boy who has been walking +all day seldom stays awake from worry. + +But when he awoke in the morning, it was to realise the fact that he +must get some money this very day or go to the police station. The few +cents he had remaining were only enough to buy some coffee and bread +for breakfast, and the poor lad didn't know where his next meal would +come from. As he went out, the clerk in the filthy office of the +lodging-house told him that he needn't come back any more. + +"Why did you tell him that?" asked the fat man with a sly face. + +"Because I went through his clothes last night when he was asleep, and +he had only six cents in his pocket. We don't want no starvin' brats +around here, to bring the Gerry Society down upon us." + +It was well that Archie didn't know his pockets had been searched +while he was asleep, or his faith in human nature would have been more +shaken than ever before. He had not suspected that the men in this +lodging-house might be dishonest. + +"They are poor," he said to himself when he saw them first, "but they +may be good men for all that." + +After a slender meal, Archie found a library where he looked over the +advertising columns of the morning papers, trying to find some +position open which he thought he might fill. There were several +advertisements calling for office boys, and all these he made note of, +and then as he looked down the page he noticed that a boy was wanted +in a restaurant to wash dishes. He decided that if he didn't succeed +in getting a place as office boy, he might get the restaurant place. +He knew that in a restaurant he would be likely at least to get enough +to eat. + +For two hours he called at addresses of men who wanted office boys, +but at every place he was turned away. "We have already hired one," +some of them said, and others told him that they never took any boys +in the office who were living away from home. Some asked him for +recommendations, and when he had none, they looked at him and told him +"good morning." It was all terribly discouraging, and with every +minute Archie was wishing more and more that he were back home again. +Somehow the city seemed different now from what it had been when Uncle +Henry was with him. Everything was less bright, and the things he had +been delighted with before were less interesting now. + +Finally, he entered a large, handsome suite of rooms, in one of the +great sky-scrapers, and was shown into a very elegant private office. +There he found an old gentleman seated in a great easy chair, looking +over papers, and keeping one eye upon a buzzing instrument at his side +which seemed to be spitting out long strips of paper, like a magician +in a side-show. The man looked up as he entered, and cleared his +throat. "Ahem," he said, "you look as if you were from the country. I +wonder, now, if you have came to the city to seek your fortune." + +Archie was embarrassed. "Yes, sir, I suppose you might put it that +way," he replied. + +"Well," continued the old gentleman, "my advice to you is to go back +where you came from as quickly as you can. Not one boy in a thousand +will gain either fame or fortune in New York, and you stand a +wonderful chance of sinking lower every year. And even if you do +succeed, you will miss many beautiful things in your life which may +come to you in the country. You can have a pleasant home there, and +live an easy, natural life, while here it will be years before you can +expect to accomplish much, and you will spend your life in a nervous +strain. Think well, young man, before choosing the great city as your +sphere of usefulness." + +"I've made up my mind, sir," said Archie. "I have quite decided to +remain in the city." + +"Very well," said the old gentleman, "I hope you may never regret it. +But we have already hired an office boy. Good morning." + +Archie walked out, more discouraged than ever. Perhaps, after all, a +country life was not to be so much despised. This man ought to know +what he was talking about. But once outside, in the Broadway crowd, +Archie forgot everything about the country, and was lost in the +delight of being one of four million. + +He now decided to accept the place in the restaurant, if it were not +taken, and, fortunately for him, it was not. So he rolled up his +sleeves, and began to wash dishes as if he had done nothing else in +all his life before. + + CHAPTER IX. + + IN THE STREET AGAIN-- THE POLICE STATION-- VISITS THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE, + AND IS KINDLY RECEIVED BY THE EDITOR. + +ALL day long Archie washed dishes, and before night came he decided +that he had never before had such discouraging work. The restaurant +was a popular one, and there were very many dishes to be washed, to +say nothing of the pots and pans which were always dirty. Archie no +sooner finished one sink full of dishes than another large pile was +waiting to be put through the same operation, and there was no time at +all for looking about him. There was hardly time for eating, even, and +at noon he was only able to snatch a few mouthfuls. The work was not +interesting, and it was a new sort of labour to Archie, so that +altogether he did not get on as well as he might have wished. The cook +was constantly nagging him, and telling him to hurry up, and the poor +lad tried his best to please him. But somehow everything went wrong, +and he was hardly surprised when the proprietor came in at six o'clock +with a new man for the place. "Come around in the morning," he said to +Archie, "and I'll pay your day's wages." + +So the boy was in the street once more, with no money, and no place to +sleep. He wasn't hungry, that was one thing, for he had been allowed +to eat a good meal before leaving the restaurant. But where was he to +sleep, and what was he to do on the morrow, when he would surely be +hungry? His experience at looking for work had not been encouraging, +and he began to have serious doubts as to whether he would ever get a +place. Certainly he would starve if he waited around New York long +without anything to do. + +It was quite dark at seven o'clock, and Archie walked over to the +brilliantly lighted street which ran north and south through the city. +He had never failed to find something interesting to look at there, +and he felt now that he would like to see the bright side of city +life, even if he couldn't enjoy it himself. So all the evening he +walked up and down the street, watching the well-dressed crowds +hurrying into the theatres and the other almost innumerable places of +amusement. He stared in open-mouthed amazement at some of the costumes +of the women he saw alighting from carriages. Never before had he seen +anything half so beautiful, and if any one had told him that there +were such dresses he would have told them he didn't believe it. Some +of them, he thought, must cost hundreds of dollars, and the jewels +worn with them many hundreds more. How interesting, how new, it all +was to him! Once he thought of the little home in the village, and at +first wished that his mother might be there to enjoy the sights with +him. "But I wouldn't want her to see me," he thought, "not while I am +so miserable, and feeling so discouraged." For Archie was beginning to +wonder if he hadn't made a mistake in leaving home, whether he had not +been overconfident and hot-headed. But he decided to try it a few days +more, that is, if he could manage to live for that length of time in +the city. + +At twelve o'clock he was walking up and down the street, which was +still bright with millions of lights, though the crowds had gone home +from the theatres, and the restaurants were beginning to be less +popular. He was still wondering how he was going to find a place to +sleep, when he was accosted by a policeman, and taken into a doorway. +"I've been watching you," said the officer, "and I want to know why +you are walking up and down the street at this time of night." + +Archie could have cried from fright, but he remembered that he was +under suspicion, so decided to tell the policeman his whole story, and +perhaps he could help him out in some way. So he described his +experiences during the day, and was surprised at the interest shown by +the officer in the recital. When he had finished he was told that he +would be taken to the police station. "You needn't be afraid, my lad," +said the policeman. "I'll see that the Gerry Society doesn't get you +and send you home, that is, if you think you want to try it here a few +days longer. You can sleep at the station to-night, and the next +morning you can try it again." So to the station they went, and Archie +was, naturally, a little frightened when he saw, for the first time, +the cells, and the terribly severe appearance of all his surroundings. +But he was given a good bed in which to sleep, and he passed a +delightful night, dreaming of the wonderful adventures which befell +him in the city. + +He was not awakened until eight o'clock, and then he found the good +policeman waiting to take him out to breakfast, He expressed surprise +that he should be so kind to him. + +"I always thought that officers were cross and unpleasant," he said, +"but you're not that kind, anyhow." + +"Well," laughed the officer, "we have to be cross very often, though +we're sometimes sorry to be so. But I've taken a fancy to you, my lad. +I like to see a boy who does things. When a boy of seventeen is +willing to come to New York alone, and make his own way, without +friends or influence of any kind, it shows a proper spirit, and he +ought to succeed. I know you'll get along if you only persevere. I'd +advise you to keep on trying." + +"Oh, I'm going to, now," said Archie. "I was very homesick and +discouraged last night, but since I've met you I seem to have received +a new impetus, and I'm ready to make a new beginning." + +So Archie and the policeman parted friends. + +"Come around to the station to-night if you want a bed, and you shall +be cared for," said the officer, as he turned around the corner into +the busy street, where he was lost in the crowd. + +Archie walked down the street, hardly knowing what to do first. He +didn't feel like answering any more advertisements in the newspapers, +and he decided to go into a few stores and ask for work. He was about +to do this when he saw before him the magnificent building of the New +York Enterprise. It was a truly beautiful structure, rising fifteen +stories above the ground, and surmounted with an artistic tower, which +could be seen from almost any part of the city. The home of the city's +greatest daily, it looked as if it were always welcoming strangers to +the metropolis, and Archie felt an irresistible impulse to enter. +Everything connected with a newspaper had for him the greatest +fascination, and he knew he would enjoy seeing through this wonderful +building, which was almost wholly occupied by the departments of the +Enterprise. So he entered the door, and passed from one floor to +another, finally arriving at the highest floor of all, where were +located the editorial rooms of the Evening Enterprise. All at once a +new plan entered Archie's fertile brain. Why shouldn't he be able to +get something to do on a newspaper? It had always been his greatest +ambition to become a reporter, and here, although he didn't think the +editor would take him in that capacity, he thought he might get some +sort of work. in which he could work himself up. + +There upon the door were the magic words: "Editor of the Evening +enterprise. No Admittance." Archie opened the door and entered. He +knew it would be useless to send in his name. It was best to see the +editor at once, and without ceremony. He was seated before a large +desk, which was littered with papers of every description, and he was +a very pleasant person in appearance. Archie stood hesitating near the +door, and remained there a minute or two before the editor looked up. + +"Well, my boy, what is it?" + +Archie took courage. + +"I-- I want to be a reporter, sir, and I thought it would do no harm +to ask you for such a position, anyhow." + +The distinguished journalist wheeled about in his chair. + +"What!" he exclaimed, "you want to be a reporter. Why, my dear boy, +how old are you?" + +"I'll be eighteen my next birthday," said Archie, "and, sir, I've had +some experiences in the last two weeks, which make me feel as if I +were about five years older than I really am. I've been through some +very trying experiences, sir." + +The editor was interested at once. "Tell me what your experiences have +been," he said, and Archie began, and told him his whole story; how he +had left home to win fame and fortune, and how he had worked on the +farm for a week with Farmer Tinch; how he had been robbed the night he +stayed with the tramps in the ancient ruins, and how he had finally +reached the city. Then he told him of the night in the lodging-house, +of his dish-washing experience in the restaurant, and how he had been +taken from the street by a policeman the night before, and allowed to +sleep in the station-house. When he had finished the editor had a +broad grin upon his face. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "this is certainly rich stuff. There's a good +story in it, I'll be bound." + +Then, speaking to Archie, he said: + +"Just wait here a minute, my boy, and I'll see if we can't put some +money in your way." + +He pressed a button at the side of his desk, and when a boy appeared, +he told him to bring "Mr. Jones, please, or one of the other +reporters. And tell Jones to bring an artist with him." + +The reporter and the artist soon stood before the editor, who told +them, with great glee, that he had a leading feature for the next +evening edition of the Enterprise. "Just talk to this boy, Jones, and +see if you can't make two good columns on the front page and two for +the inside from his story. I think it's great, myself. And you Cash," +he said, turning to the artist, "you make a good sketch of the boy." + +Archie could hardly believe his eyes and ears. Just to think that he +was being interviewed, and that his picture was to be in the paper. It +seemed almost too good to be true. + +When the reporter had finished with him, he was taken down-stairs to +the cashier's office and given thirty dollars in bills. "This will pay +you for the interview," said the editor, "and give you enough to fix +up with. Now, to-morrow, you come in again, and I think I can give you +steady employment." + +Oh, how happy Archie was! He went out into the street, and seemed to +fairly walk on air. Then he heard the newsboys crying, "Extra paper, +read about the Enterprise's Boy Reporter." And when Archie saw the +paper, there on the front page was his picture, together with the +story of his "startling adventures." + + CHAPTER X. + + LIVING IN COMFORT AGAIN-- FEATURED AS "THE BOY REPORTER." + +ARCHIE often speaks of the day when he visited the newspaper office +for the first time as the happiest day in all his life. The change +from despair and homesickness to the joy of being appreciated by some +one was so rapid that it made his head fairly swim with the +exhilaration of success. With thirty dollars in his pocket, and the +knowledge that he would have steady employment of the kind he desired +on the morrow, he walked up the Bowery feeling like a prince. He +entered the lodging-house where he had left his bundle of clothing, +and so surprised the clerk by his new appearance that he was invited +to remain there for another night. The shrewd man guessed that some +good fortune must have befallen Archie, or he wouldn't be so happy. +But the one night of misery which he had spent in the squalid hotel +was enough for Archie, and he walked hastily up-town with his bundle, +keeping a sharp lookout for a pleasant place where he might get a +room. In his previous wanderings he had seen several nice houses with +rooms to rent, but now that he wanted a room he found it difficult to +find any of these neighbourhoods. He was anxious to get settled as +quickly as possible, for he wanted to get everything done to-day, so +that to-morrow he could have time to do anything required of him by +the editor of the Enterprise. He must get a new suit of clothes, be +must get his hair cut, and last, but not least, he must write home to +mother and tell her of his great good fortune. + +Finally, in his wanderings, Archie came to a beautiful square which +was surrounded on every side by business houses and tenements. But the +square itself and the houses on it were very quaint and very handsome, +so that it seemed to be a very oasis in the desert. The green trees, +just a little tinged with the brown and gold of autumn, reminded +Archie of the front yard at home, and he decided to get a room in one +of the houses here if he could possibly do so. + +It so happened that there was a hall bedroom empty in one of the +best-looking places, and Archie at once engaged it. The price was more +reasonable than he had hoped for, even, and this made him happy, for +as yet he had no idea how much his earnings would be, and he was +anxious to be able to save something to send home, if he possibly +could. The room was nicely furnished, and looked out upon the +fountain, with the green trees, so that it was highly satisfactory in +every respect. It didn't take Archie long to undo his bundle, and it +was a pitiful display that greeted him when it was opened. The little +comb and brush, a piece of soap, a Testament given him last Christmas +by the teacher at Sunday school, a suit of underwear, and a couple of +handkerchiefs. The whole lot of things hardly filled a corner in one +of the bureau drawers, and Archie realised that he must buy a great +many things within a week or two. + +But before going out to do any shopping, he sat down and wrote a long +letter home, describing his success of the morning, and telling his +mother of the editor's promise to give him regular employment. He +enclosed a copy of the paper with his picture and the story of his +adventures, and it made him very happy to think of his mother's +feelings when she read it all. Then, when he had finished, he went out +to a post-office, and bought a money-order for ten dollars, which he +also enclosed. "I know I can spare it," he said to himself, "and it +will gratify her so much." Then, when the letter with its contents was +safely mailed, he bought himself a new suit of clothing, and renovated +himself in many ways, so that when he returned to his room in the +square it was nearly dark, and he looked a different boy entirely. + +Before going to bed, he determined to see his policeman friend, and +tell him of his good fortune. "He is probably expecting me to sleep in +the station," Archie thought, "and it will be a great surprise to +him." But when he met the good man, he found that he had already heard +of his success. + +"I bought the Enterprise, and could hardly believe my eyes," said he, +"but I always thought you would find some one to appreciate your +pluck. I'm mighty glad for you, my lad, and you must always let me +know how you are getting along." This Archie promised to do, and +returned to his lodging to sleep. + +The next morning he was on hand at the Enterprise office before the +editor himself was down. The place was quite as fascinating as it had +been on the preceding day, and he found something new to look at every +minute. The reporters at their desks, several of whom introduced +themselves and congratulated Archie on his perseverance, were a source +of great interest to him, and the copy-boys, running here and there +with special copy for the first edition, gave an air of hustling +activity to the place that was very attractive to this new reporter. + +When the editor came he had already thought of something for Archie to +do. "Now you've been introduced to the public," he said, "and we want +to feature you for a few days. Every one will be interested in knowing +what you are doing, and what is going to become of you. You must write +us an article for the paper to-day, telling about your experiences +since yesterday, about getting a new suit, and about hunting for a +room. And you can tell about your policeman friend, too." + +This was surprising. Archie couldn't imagine why any one should be +interested in knowing about his daily life, but he sat down and +succeeded in writing a very interesting two columns about it. He was +much surprised that he should be able to write so easily and so well. +Of course he knew that composition and rhetoric had been his two +strongest studies at school, but he had never realised before that he +had any great talent for writing. When he had finished this article, +the editor looked it over, and said, "That's great. You're all right, +my boy. We'll make a great journalist of you yet," and of course this +made Archie very happy. "Wait until this story is set up," said Mr. +Jennings, the editor, "and I'll see what you can do in the way of +correcting proofs." + +When the proofs came, in a very short time, he hardly knew what to do +with them. But in reading them he discovered several mistakes, which +he lost no time in correcting, and Mr. Jennings said that he had done +very well indeed. "Now you can spend the day in doing what you please. +I would suggest that you go about New York and have as many strange +experiences as possible, so that to-morrow you can write them up for +us. And it will pay you, by the way, to go out to Coney Island, which +is a different place from any you have seen before. You are sure to +see some unusual things, and in the morning you can bring me in two +columns about it." + +Before leaving, Archie was asked if he needed any money. "You mustn't +hesitate to ask for it, because you can have it as well to-day as on +Saturday." But as he had left several dollars of the thirty he had +received the day before, Archie didn't draw any more, and he thought +it most remarkable that the editor should have so much money to pay +out. + +He had no difficulty in getting a trolley-car to Coney Island, and, +after an hour's riding through Brooklyn streets, he found himself in +the most unique and most delightful place imaginable, It was a +queer-looking town, with great wheels in the air, high towers, with +elevators and innumerable merry-go-rounds, and other sources of +amusement. The noise was something terrific. Hand-organs, +street-pianos, and German bands were all playing at the same time, +while people hurried about from one place to another, enjoying the +hundreds of games and riding the various scenic railways and +carrousels. Archie stood mute with delight at it all, but before five +minutes had passed he had shot the chutes, and had ridden over a +steeplechase which took him through dark caverns, where dragons glared +at him and where electrical sparks were constantly flying through the +air. It was all so new, so different from anything he had seen before, +that he was simply lost in admiration. He was standing near a theatre, +when a short, dark man touched him on the arm, and said, "Come this +way, young man, and I'll teach you the best game of all." + + CHAPTER XI. + + A DAY AND A NIGHT IN CONEY ISLAND-- RAIDING A GAMBLING DEN. + +ARCHIE was at first too much surprised to answer the man at all, but +in a few moments he remembered that he was now a reporter, and that it +was his duty to see all that he could, and have all the new +experiences possible. So he decided to follow the man, and find out +what "the best thing of all" in Coney Island was like. He was taken +through several narrow alleyways, and finally he found himself in +front of a tumble-down structure, built out directly over the water. +It was very modest in appearance, and everything seemed quiet about +the place. The shades were carefully drawn, and the dark man had to +knock three times before the door was opened and they were permitted +to enter. Inside, Archie found himself in a handsomely furnished +apartment which differed greatly in appearance from the exterior of +the building. There was a rich velvet carpet, mahogany furniture, and +a great many small tables standing about the room. The place was +filled with men, mostly well-dressed, who were playing various games. +Some were dealing cards, others were twirling wheels with numbers on +them, and some were playing games with chips. It didn't take Archie +long to realise that he had been steered into a gambling den of the +worst kind, and he was immediately on the alert for future +developments. He watched every movement of his new friend, and noticed +that he found it necessary to speak to several of those present in a +low undertone. This didn't worry Archie, because he knew that he was +in no danger except of losing money, and he felt that he could afford +to lose some money, since he was sure to earn more by writing about +the experience for the newspaper. + +So he carefully observed all that was going on, making mental notes of +the peculiarities of the place and the people. When at last the dark +man came up and inquired if he wouldn't like a chance to earn some +money easily, he very readily answered yes, and the man was overjoyed +to find so willing a victim. Then, of course, Archie was introduced to +the mysteries of the famous roulette wheel, of which he had read so +much. Archie was interested in everything, and didn't mind losing four +dollars in learning so much that was new. He succeeded in getting away +when he had lost this sum, though the man assured him that he couldn't +help winning back all he had lost, and much more, too, if he would but +remain awhile longer. Archie was firm, however, and passed out into +the narrow alleyways again, feeling that he had learned a great deal +through a very small expenditure of money. He gradually found his way +back into the crowded Surf Avenue, where there were hundreds of +things, evidently, which he had not yet seen. The crowds, too, seemed +greater even than before, and there seemed to be thousands of people +arriving every hour from New York and Brooklyn, over the various +street-car and railway lines, and by the excursion boats landing at +the great iron pier. The noise was still deafening, and every one +seemed to be having a splendid time in every way. "Surely," said +Archie to himself, "no one can feel blue or despondent in such a place +as this, where every one is full of fun, and apparently determined to +have a good time while here." And he felt that he would like to remain +longer, but he knew he should go back again to the city, so that he +might see the editor, and tell him something about what he had seen +and done. + +So again he rode over the great Brooklyn bridge, and stopped on the +other side at the handsome building of the Enterprise. It made Archie +very happy to feel that he was now a reporter on such a great paper, +and he found it hard to realise that so much good fortune had come to +him in such a short time. He met reporters in the various hallways, +and all of them spoke to him pleasantly, so that he began to feel that +he had never been thrown with such pleasant men before. + +He had no difficulty in seeing the editor this time, and found him a +ready listener to the story of his Coney Island experiences. He +insisted on Archie's describing all the men he had seen in the +gambling den, and then asked him if he could identify them, if +necessary, and also if he would be able to find the place again. +Archie gave good descriptions of most of the men, and said that he +could take any one to the place at any time. The editor lost himself +in thought for a few minutes, and at the end of that time he rang for +a copy-boy. "Ring for a messenger boy," he said, "and when he arrives +come for a note which I want him to take to Mr. Pultzer's house." +Archie stared with amazement at Mr. Jennings, and waited for further +information. He wondered what was going to be done. He knew that Mr. +Pultzer owned the newspaper, and he knew that it must be something +important that Mr. Jennings wanted to write him about. He wasn't long +left in the dark, and he felt very proud that Mr. Jennings should have +confidence enough in him to tell him about his plans. "I think you +have discovered something which will prove very important to the paper +and the public," he said to Archie. "We have suspected for a long time +that gambling dens have been flourishing in Coney Island, but up to +now we have not been able to locate any of them. Now that you have +found one, we hope to arouse public opinion to the danger there is in +such places, and we hope to inspire a reform movement which will be +strong enough to wipe them out entirely. I will hear from Mr. Pultzer +in a short time, and then I want you to go down to the Island with +some plain-clothes detectives and two other reporters. And I don't +mind telling you now that there will be a good sum in it for you if +you succeed in arresting any of the leaders of this gang. You can be +excused for an hour now, if there's anything you want to do." + +Full of enthusiasm over the coming adventure and his part in it, +Archie hurried out to a quick-lunch counter and bought himself a light +meal, for he feared that he would have to remain at Coney Island +through the evening. Then, when he had finished, he returned to the +newspaper office, where he spent some time in getting acquainted with +some of the reporters who were working on the Morning Enterprise. He +found them all very pleasant to meet, and he learned a great many +helpful things from their conversation. The older men were able to +give him many pointers concerning things that he should, and should +not, do. While he was in the office of the Morning Enterprise Mr. +Jennings came in, and, taking him along into the private room of the +managing editor, introduced him to Mr. Van Bunting, who was the +editorial head of the morning edition. Then Mr. Jennings told of the +new scheme, and Mr. Van Bunting entered into it so thoroughly that +before an hour three detectives, two reporters, and Archie were on +their way to the Island. + +Once arrived in the resort, which was as noisy and bright as in the +afternoon, they all made a bee-line for the gambling den, headed by +Archie, who surprised the others with his certainty and confidence as +to which was the right direction. In a very few minutes they all stood +in front of the dilapidated structure built out over tide-water, and +Archie heard one of the detectives say that the place looked "mighty +suspicious like." He gave three knocks just as the dark man had done +in the afternoon, and in a few minutes the door was cautiously opened +and a head made its appearance. The detectives lost no time in pushing +their way in, amid great confusion and cries of fear, and it seemed +only a few seconds until all the inmates were huddled in a corner, +covered with pistols, and wailing in fear, when they weren't cursing +through anger. Then they were all arrested and taken to the police +station, where they were all refused bail, and placed in cells +overnight. Then the reporters returned to the office of the +Enterprise, where Archie was told by Mr. Van Bunting to write the +story of his experience for the morning paper. This was his first work +for the morning edition, and he took great pains to make his +descriptions as complete as possible, and the details as accurate as +he knew how to make them. And his hard work was rewarded by words of +praise from the managing editor when he turned the copy in for +editing. + +Tired from his hard day's work, Archie then went up-town to the quiet +square in which he had his home, and he was glad to get to bed. He had +been nervous and excited all day, and found it difficult to sleep, but +finally the tired eyelids lay quietly over the tired eyes, and Archie +was dreaming of the cool and pleasant arbour of grapes at home, and of +how the Hut Club was holding a special meeting there to devise ways +and means of welcoming home their distinguished fellow member, Mr. +Archie Dunn, who had achieved such great success in the city. + +Notwithstanding his tired feeling, Archie was up early the next +morning, and out at the corner to buy an Enterprise. He hastily turned +the pages, trying to find the story of his Coney Island adventures, +but he looked in vain. It wasn't visible anywhere. He was about to +think that it had not been thought worth while printing when he +noticed on the front page, in large letters, "The Boy Reporter's Great +Discovery," and then followed the complete account, just as he had +written it. This was the best thing yet. Just to think that his story +had been considered important enough to print upon the front page! He +could hardly believe it. Surely he had made great strides, and Archie +began to realise that it is not experience that is most needed in +journalism, but something to write about. "I have simply been +fortunate in finding some interesting things," he said, to himself, +and then, after a light breakfast in a quaint Italian restaurant +around the corner, he hurried down-town to the office of the +newspaper. + +Archie was beginning to feel, by now, that he had worked for a long +time upon the paper, and as he had become acquainted with almost every +one connected with it, this wasn't a strange feeling for him to have. +And it was evident, too, that the editors intended to keep him busy +for some time to come, and Archie realised that he was in newspaper +work to stay, for a time, at least. And he was overjoyed at the +prospect, for he found the whole business as fascinating and as +interesting as he had expected it would be. + +Mr. Jennings, of the evening edition, was at the office when Archie +arrived, and sent for him to come in. "Here is fifty dollars," he +said, "for your work of yesterday, and you will have more coming to +you if these men are convicted. I want to congratulate you on what you +have done so far. Come in this afternoon, and I think Mr. Van Bunting +will have a new plan for you." + + CHAPTER XII. + + A SUCCESSFUL REPORTER-- THE EDITOR DECIDES TO SEND HIM AS CORRESPONDENT + TO THE PHILIPPINES-- LEAVING NEW YORK-- IN CHICAGO. + +AT three o'clock in the afternoon Archie was seated in Mr. Van +Bunting's office, together with Mr. Jennings and several of the chief +members of the editorial staffs of both editions of the paper. The +editors had spread out before them, on the large table, several maps, +and most of them were busily engaged in making notes on little paper +pads. All the time, however, an excited conversation was being carried +on, for some editors wanted Archie to proceed to the Philippines one +way, and some thought that the better plan would be for him to go by +some other route. But the important fact with Archie was that he was +really going to be sent to the Philippines as a war correspondent, and +that he was going to start very shortly. He had called on Mr. Van +Bunting early in the afternoon, and had then learned for the first +time what the new plan was to be. When the managing editor asked him +how he would like to go to the Philippines, Archie could scarcely +reply, so delighted was he with the brilliant prospect before him. He +managed to stammer out a few words, though, in spite of his surprise. +"I always thought war correspondents were selected from the most +experienced men in journalism," he said, but Mr. Van Bunting only +laughed. "That's what we have already done, my boy," he said, "and so +far none of our distinguished correspondents have sent us a thing +worth printing that we didn't already know. You see they can't send +any more to us in the way of news than we can get from the War +Department in Washington, and most of these men are too old fogy to +send us anything out of the ordinary line of war correspondence. Now, +what we want is for you to go over there and have some adventures, and +write us something which will be different from what we have had +before from the Philippines. We are sending you, because you have had +no experience at such work, and will be sure to send us something +unusual, and that is what we want. If you can only do as well in the +tropics as you have done here in New York, we shall be more than +satisfied with your work. I am sorry that I won't have time to give +you very complete instructions, but perhaps it will be as well. And +now some of the men are waiting outside to come in and talk this +matter over, so we'll have them in now." + +And Archie found himself in the midst of an editorial conference, +during which many things were discussed. The meeting lasted more than +two hours, and finally it was decided that Archie should travel from +New York to San Francisco, and go from there to Manila on the army +transport which was to sail on the twenty-fifth of the month. This +meant that he would have to leave the city in two days' time, and +Archie announced himself as quite willing to do this, as he had few +preparations to make. The editors gave him many instructions about how +he was to address his correspondence, and how he should proceed in the +event of finding it necessary to send despatches by cable. And at the +end of the conference he felt that he knew all that he would need to +know, so that he could start off without fear of not being able to +fulfil his mission. As far as Archie could understand it, his chief +instructions as to duty were to the effect that he must have as many +experiences as possible of as many different kinds, and that he must +write about them in a perfectly natural way, just as if he were +writing a letter to the folks at home. And he thought, of course, that +this would be very easy to do. + +Mr. Van Bunting gave him a letter of credit for six hundred dollars, +which amount, he said, would probably be sufficient to pay his +expenses while he was in the Philippines, and he also gave him a +cheque for three hundred dollars, which was intended to pay the +expense of getting to Manila. "Of course," said Mr. Van Bunting, "you +can spend as much or as little of this as you please, and if you need +more, and we find that the venture is paying us, why, we will send it +on demand." Archie was so overcome with the knowledge that he +possessed nine hundred dollars, that he could hardly thank the editor +enough, and he made up his mind that he would spend as little as +possible of the sum, and bring back part of it to Mr. Van Bunting upon +his return. He couldn't imagine how it would be possible for him to +spend so much money, and he felt that, after some of his experiences +since he left home, he ought to be able to economise in many ways +where other reporters wouldn't know how to save at all. + +When the two days were up Archie had made all his preparation, and was +ready to leave New York for Manila. He had sent a long letter home to +his mother, telling her of his great good fortune, and enclosing a +cheque for a hundred dollars, which she was to spend while he was +gone. He told her that he would send her more money from time to time, +and felt very proud as he mailed the letter. He told her, too, that if +at any time she didn't hear from him on time, she could write to Mr. +Van Bunting, and he would let her know of his whereabouts. This was +something which Mr. Van Bunting had very thoughtfully advised him to +do. "Your mother is sure to worry if the mails are overdue," he had +said, "and if she writes to me, I will always be able to tell her of +your whereabouts, for we can hear of you through our other +correspondents, if not from your own despatches." So Archie felt that +his mother shouldn't worry, since he was such a fortunate boy in so +many ways. + +The night before leaving he took a long farewell walk up Broadway. +Everything was bright with light, and there was, as usual, a great +crowd of pleasure-seekers on the sidewalks. It was all as fascinating +as ever to Archie, and he felt sorry that he was to leave it so soon. +New York had begun to grow on him, as it grows on any one living there +for any length of time, who is in a position to appreciate the city's +attractions. He felt that he would almost rather be on Broadway than +in the Philippines, but of course he forgot this feeling when he +remembered the confidence which Mr. Van Bunting had reposed in him by +sending him upon such an important mission. So, after he had passed +all the bright theatres and restaurants, he turned down a quiet side +street and returned to his lodging, so that he might have a good +night's rest before starting on his long journey. + +At seven in the morning he was up again, and at nine o'clock he was +bidding farewell to his many friends in the editorial rooms of the +Evening Enterprise. Every one congratulated him upon his great good +luck in getting such a chance to distinguish himself, and when they +had done telling him that he had a great future before him, Archie +felt happier than ever before in all his life. + +The train left the Grand Central Station at one o'clock, and Mr. +Jennings went with him to the station to see him well started upon the +journey. "You may be sure we are all much interested in you, Archie," +he said, as the train was leaving, "and we shall look forward +anxiously to your safe return." These words made Archie very glad, for +it cheered him to know that at least one of the editors liked him for +himself as well as for what he could do. + +The Southwestern Limited seemed to fairly fly along the banks of the +beautiful Hudson, and everything was so delightful that Archie could +scarcely believe that only a week or two before he had been walking +along country roads, anxious to reach New York, that he might become +an office boy. Every thing in this train was as perfect as modern +ingenuity could make it, and there was no lack of interesting things +to be examined, when Archie tired of the landscape. Then, when the +train had been two hours out of New York, he discovered that the +famous president of this great railway system was aboard, and, +mustering up his courage, he determined to introduce himself. He had +long been anxious to see this famous after-dinner orator and +statesman, and here was a chance which might not come soon again. So +he went back to the drawing-room, and found the great man to be quite +as pleasant as he was interesting, and Archie was asked to seat +himself and tell something about his experiences since leaving home. +Everything he said was listened to with great interest, and this +distinguished wit seemed to find many of the adventures very funny +indeed. "You have certainly had some wonderful experiences," he said, +when Archie had finished, "and I can appreciate your anxiety to leave +school. I had that desire myself when I was a boy of about fifteen, +but my father succeeded in making me change my opinion on the subject, +and without much argument, unless you can call an ox-team and a stony +pasture an argument. I had been asking to stay at home from school for +a long time. I said that I was too old to be sitting there with a lot +of girls and some younger boys, and that I wanted to work. Finally, my +father said that I could stay at home if I cared to, and that he would +let me work on the farm for a time. I was overjoyed, of course, at the +prospect of staying out of school. + +"The next morning I was awakened at four o'clock, and had to swallow +my breakfast in a hurry, because I was late, my father said. Then he +took me out to the barn and ordered me to hitch up the ox-team, and +when this was done he took me out to a pasture lot and told me to pick +up all the boulders there. Well, I picked up boulders all day long, +and by evening my back and arms were so sore I could hardly move them. +I was too tired to eat supper, and was soon asleep in bed. When my +father awoke me at four the next morning, I told him to let me alone +and that I was going back to school. After that I was content to stay +in school, and said nothing more about leaving until I had finished +the course and was ready to go to college." + +And Archie thought it very queer that such a famous man should have +had such experiences when a boy. He remained in the drawing-room for +more than an hour, and when he left he felt perfectly sure that he had +been talking with the most charming man in the world. + +The train sped on and on, and when daylight came the next morning they +were passing through Northern Ohio. Early in the afternoon they +reached a great smoky metropolis, spread out for miles over the +plains. Archie knew that this must be Chicago, and he decided, as this +was Saturday, and the steamer wouldn't leave San Francisco until the +next Friday, that he would have time to remain here over Sunday. So he +left the train at the station in Pacific Avenue, and, Finding a hotel +near the station, he started out to see something of the city famous +for its dirt and for the World's Fair, two widely different things. + + CHAPTER XIII. + + SAN FRANCISCO-- THE TRANSPORT GONE-- WORKING HIS WAY TO HONOLULU BY + PEELING VEGETABLES ON A PACIFIC LINER-- THE CAPITAL OF HAWAII. + +ARCHIE found Chicago to be so widely different from New York that +everything he saw was new and interesting to him. In the afternoon he +managed to see something of the congested business section of the +city, the tall office buildings, the great stores, and the famous +Board of Trade. It was all very fine, he thought, but still it wasn't +nearly so fascinating to him as New York had been on the first day he +visited it. "Chicago seems so very much like some great town," he +explained to the hotel clerk in the evening. "I feel as if I were not +in a great city at all, because there are not the evidences of a large +and wealthy population that we have everywhere in New York." Archie +spoke of New York as if he had lived there always, and found much to +criticise in Chicago. But toward evening he went up to Lincoln Park +and the beautiful North Shore, and he felt that there was nothing more +beautiful in New York than this magnificent park, and this handsome +Lake Shore Drive, with its great houses whose lawns reached down +almost to the lake itself. On the South Side of the city, too, he +found some handsome streets and residences, but there was always that +feeling of being in some rapidly growing town. It wasn't hard for +Archie to realise that there were older houses in his native town than +could be found anywhere in the great city of Chicago. + +The greatest difference between Chicago and New York was to be noticed +in the evening. Instead of the brilliantly lighted thoroughfares of +upper Broadway and Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth Streets, he found +but one street in Chicago which was at all illuminated, and the +illuminations there were chiefly signs in front of dime museums. The +streets, too, were not so crowded, and Archie almost longed that he +could be back on Broadway, if only for a little while. + +On Sunday he found Chicago to be a more noisy city than he had ever +been in before on that day, and he found that the people made good use +of their one weekly holiday. All places of amusement were open, and +everything was running in "full blast." + +The parks seemed to be very popular, indeed, and there were numerous +water excursions upon Lake Michigan, to Milwaukee, St. Joe, and +various other neighbouring cities. The street-cars were crowded all +day long, many of them taking people to a Sunday game of baseball at +the Athletic Park. All of this was very interesting and very new to +Archie, but it didn't make him anxious to remain in Chicago any longer +than Monday morning, so on that day he took the limited train for the +Pacific Coast, for he had determined not to stop off again until he +reached Denver. + +Days of weary travel over a level, uninteresting stretch of ground +followed the departure of the train from Chicago, and had not Archie +found some interesting persons to talk with he would have been very +weary long before reaching Denver. As it was, he managed to pass the +time very pleasantly until the train entered Colorado, and after that +he found much that was new to look at until he reached Denver. Here he +remained for half a day, just long enough to see something of the city +and a little of the neighbouring country. Then, taking a train for San +Francisco, he reached that city on Thursday afternoon, and immediately +began to make arrangements for sailing. He found, to his great +disappointment, that the army transport had sailed the previous day, +contrary to the expectations of the editors, and of the War Department +itself, until the arrival of important despatches from Manila, which +made it necessary to start the transport at once with supplies of +ammunition. Archie hardly knew what to do. He had not anticipated +anything like this, and could scarcely think of any plan for a time, +but, finally, he proved himself equal to the emergency. He went to the +naval agent and asked him when the transport would be due at Honolulu, +and then he ascertained that a passenger steamer sailing for that port +on Saturday would reach the destination three days sooner than the +transport, so that by taking the liner he would have three extra days +in Honolulu, and would be able to reach Manila on schedule time, after +all. He at once decided that this was the thing for him to do, and as +soon as he thought of taking the steamer it occurred to him that he +might possibly be able to work his way to Honolulu, instead of paying +the regular passenger fare, which he knew was high. So he went down to +the great docks, and, after interviewing the second steward, he +approached the chief steward himself, and asked if there wasn't +something that he could do aboard the ship to earn his passage. The +chief steward was thoughtful for a time, and finally said, "Well, yes, +I believe there is. We haven't any one to peel vegetables yet, and if +you think you care to do that work I guess we can fix you up all +right." Archie didn't wait to consider whether peeling vegetables was +hard work or not. He was too glad to have a position of any kind +aboard ship to be particular about what his work was like, so he told +the steward that he was willing to take the place. "Well, be on hand +at about eight in the morning, and we'll see that you get to +Honolulu." + +Archie was overjoyed at his good management. "I am going to save about +a hundred dollars," he said to himself, "and I will have this money to +send home to mother." The rest of the afternoon and the evening he +spent in going about San Francisco, and he found it to be more like +New York than any city he had yet seen. There was the same +cosmopolitan crowd on the main thoroughfares, and the same foreign +districts here and there throughout the city. He found a great deal to +interest him, especially at the Presidio, where everything connected +with the army monopolised his attention. He made friends with many of +the soldiers who were waiting to be sent to the Philippines, and +hoped, on leaving, that he would meet some of them there, but he +hardly expected that he would meet some of them in such a strange +manner as it was his fate to do in Luzon. + +After a good night's rest he was on hand early at the great steamer, +where there was such a scene of bustle and confusion as he had never +seen before, not even in New York. There was a throng of men with +trucks who were loading the late freight, and there was a constant din +of noisy voices, which, combined with the shrieks of escaping steam, +made it impossible to carry on a conversation. Archie hurried aboard +to find the steward, who immediately took him into the galley and +introduced him to the cook, a large, fat Frenchman, with small, blue +eyes set far back in his head. He seemed to be a pleasant man, and +Archie thought that he would like him very much. + +"Well, does ze youngster vant to vork, eh! Eef he do, I say you pare +zis potate for dinee as quick you can." And the fellow pointed to a +great bag of potatoes and a paring-knife. "Now you sit zere in da +corner," continued the cook, "and keep out uf my vay." Archie found a +stool and sat down, and, having brought an apron with him, he put it +on and began work. The cook watched him closely, so that Archie soon +learned to pare the potatoes very nicely, and of course he was able to +get along faster and faster as he became more and more experienced. He +managed, through great effort, to get the bag finished in time for +dinner, or luncheon, as it was called on the bill of fare, and then he +soon had to begin on other vegetables, which were to be served at the +more complete evening meal. There were more potatoes, and some turnips +and apples as well, to be prepared, and it kept the boy busy all the +afternoon, cleaning as hard as he could, and never seeming to get +done. The cook urged him always to hurry, and seemed determined to +have everything ready on time. And Archie began to realise that he was +working under a rather severe master. + +He was again successful in getting the vegetables finished in time for +the evening meal, and then he had an idea that he might be allowed to +rest for awhile, but he soon realised his mistake. He was advised to +begin work on the potatoes for breakfast if he didn't want to get up +at two o'clock in the morning and pare them, so once more he took up +the knife and began to clean and scrape. It was ten o'clock before he +had finished, and he found himself too tired to spend any time on the +after-deck with the crew, but went at once down into the small, stuffy +room where he was to sleep with some of the stewards. His back ached +from bending over, and his hands were all sore from being scraped. + +Things were not very pleasant in this bedroom, but poor Archie was +glad enough to be able to lie down on the hard straw tick and go to +sleep. He slept soundly until he was awakened at four o'clock in the +morning by the second cook, who ordered him up-stairs to work. There +was no time to wash, and no place where he could wash, so the boy was +obliged to go up just as he was, much as he disliked doing so. And +once up-stairs there were various chores which were waiting for him in +the galley, so that he was kept running until breakfast was served. +And then it was time to begin paring vegetables again. This turned out +to be the invariable daily programme, and Archie became rather +discouraged. Had it not been for the thought that by doing this he was +saving money to send home, he would have been miserable indeed, but +this idea kept him hopeful. He was seasick, too, for a time, and was +obliged to keep cleaning vegetables in the galley during the whole +period of his suffering. The days when he was ill in this way were the +most disagreeable ones of the voyage, and Archie often described +afterward his feelings as he sat peeling potatoes with a bucket +standing beside him. Each night he slept like a log, and each morning +he was obliged to get up at four o'clock and start work again. It was +the same thing day after day, tiresome and monotonous, so that Archie +wasn't sorry when the beautiful island hove in sight, and they +anchored in the picturesque bay of Honolulu. + +Once at Honolulu, Archie's term of service on board the liner was +over, and he was glad, indeed, to get ashore, where he learned that +the transport had not yet arrived, but was expected in two or three +days' time. These two or three days Archie determined to spend in +sightseeing, and he spent his time to excellent advantage in visiting +every quarter of Honolulu and seeing every side of life in the +Hawaiian capital. He found it a delightful place. There was much that +was interesting to see, the people were pleasant to meet, and the +climate was perfect. He was almost sorry when he learned that the +transport had anchored in the bay! + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE VOYAGE ON THE TRANSPORT-- A STORM AT SEA-- ARRIVAL IN MANILA. + +THE transport did not remain long at Honolulu, and before leaving +Archie had several things which he wanted to do. In the first place, +he felt that he ought to write the story of his experiences so far, +and send it to Mr. Van Bunting; so he did sit down and describe in +detail his experiences at cleaning vegetables on board the Pacific +liner. He wasn't sure whether this was anything that Mr. Van Bunting +would care to print, but he decided to send it on, anyhow. He would +have been surprised had he observed the enthusiasm with which this +letter was read in the Enterprise office a month later. He would have +been no longer in any doubt as to whether it was anything worth +printing had he read the Enterprise of the following day, when the +letter appeared on the second page as one of the chief features of the +paper. + +Before leaving, too, Archie sent a long, cheerful letter home, saying +nothing of his being seasick on board the liner, or of his having had +to work so hard. He devoted his letter to telling of the many +interesting things he had seen, and of his bright prospects for +becoming a successful newspaper man. He wrote a shorter letter to Jack +Sullivan, which was intended to be read to all the members of the Hut +Club, for Archie felt that it was no more than right that they should +know something of his success. He found it very hard to realise, away +off here in Honolulu, that he had ever been a member of the club, and +that he had ever lived in tents behind the barn. He felt very manly +now, and his boyhood seemed far away behind him, so far away that he +now felt like a man of twenty-five rather than like a boy of eighteen. +He was beginning to realise that age is not always governed by years +alone, but that experience does much to make one old. + +As soon as the transport had anchored in the bay, Archie went aboard +to present his credentials to the commanding officer. He found the +general very pleasant to meet, and a very appreciative listener as he +told of his scheme for overtaking the transport. The officer was +surprised, of course, that such a young fellow should be going to the +islands as correspondent, but the things he said were very encouraging +to Archie, "I tell you what," the general remarked, at one time during +the conversation, "I believe that a young fellow like Dunn, here, can +find out a great many more interesting things than an older man could +ever discover. You see the youngster has ambition and energy on his +side, and ambition and energy are two mighty powerful things when +they're combined. I'd hate to buck up against 'em myself." The other +officers agreed with the general in this remark, and Archie began to +feel that, after all, he might not have such a hard time finding +interesting things to write about as he had expected. + +The transport remained in port but one day, and in thirty hours after +her arrival Archie found himself sailing again over the blue Pacific. +The weather, for a few days, was almost perfect. A cloudless sky +overhead, a warm breeze from the west, and a smooth sea made things +very pleasant aboard ship, and Archie began to realise that there are +times when it is delightful to be at sea. The vessel was very much +overcrowded with troops, and the sleeping quarters were but little +more pleasant than aboard the liner. Archie shared a stateroom with +three sergeants, and they managed to have a lively time during the +voyage. They played games, told stories, and slept in the afternoons, +but all this, of course, grew rather tiresome after a time, and the +voyage was becoming monotonous, when there came a severe storm which +kept things moving for three days. + +None of the navigating officers had expected a gale, so that when it +came every one was taken wholly by surprise, and it came so suddenly +that there was no time at all for preparation. The sky became quickly +dark one afternoon about three o'clock, and soon the whole horizon was +a mass of great black clouds, which every moment seemed to come lower +and lower until they directly overhung the ship. There was great +excitement aboard the ship. Officers hurried here and there shouting +orders to their men, and the cavalrymen rushed about in a frenzy of +haste, trying to devise means to save their horses, most of which were +stabled upon the deck. Archie looked on in breathless interest, and +was surprised to find that he wasn't at all frightened. He even found +himself making mental notes of the scene, so that he could send the +story of it all to Mr. Van Bunting when he reached Manila. + +There was but little time for rushing about, and it was soon evident +that the horses would many of them be lost, because there seemed to be +absolutely no way of saving them if the waves were high enough to +break over the bulwarks. The storm soon broke in great fury, beginning +with a fierce wind which swept the waves before it. There was but +little rain, and the waves rose higher and higher with every minute, +until the heavy ship began to roll and pitch in a frightful way, so +that the soldiers began to think, some of them, that she would +certainly sink. Finally the waves were so high they dashed themselves +over the decks, and no one was allowed above the gangways. The cries +of the poor horses, as they felt themselves being washed overboard, +were frightful to hear, and many a trooper cried himself as he thought +of his horse foundering in the raging sea without. Before many minutes +all was as dark as night, though the watch pointed to but four +o'clock, and all lights were burning below deck. It was impossible to +keep a light above, for no lantern could burn in such a storm. + +The waves began gradually to subside at ten o'clock at night, and a +slow steady rain came, which soon calmed the sea to a great extent. As +soon as it was safe to go above deck, it was found that more than a +hundred horses had been lost overboard, and that one mast had been +carried away. Down below nearly every man was in his bunk, for there +was scarcely a person who was not seasick, and most of them wouldn't +have cared if the ship had gone down with all aboard, such was their +feeling of despondency. Archie was as sick as any of the others, but +was able to make notes of occurrences just the same. And when he grew +better the next day, he wrote an excellent account of the storm to +send to the Enterprise on his arrival in Manila. + +After this rough weather experience, every man aboard was anxious to +reach port, and when, after many more days, the Bay of Cavité was +reached, a great cheer went up from a thousand throats, for everyone +was overjoyed at the sight of land. + +The transport came to anchor off the forts which had once been +Spain's, and it was announced that no one would be allowed to land for +two days, until advices could be had from Manila and the interior of +the island. This was very trying for Archie, being obliged to sit on +deck for two whole days, looking at a shore which seemed very +inviting, in spite of the general dilapidated appearance of the +various buildings and docks. Everything looked different from anything +he had seen before, and the boy felt that he could hardly wait to be +allowed to explore some of those streets which were so narrow, and +those houses which were built in such a peculiar fashion. + +Finally, the permission came for the troops to land, and Archie +received the permission of the general to remain with them as long as +he wanted to do so. And as he had no other plans, the young +correspondent decided that it would be a good plan for him to stay +right with one of these regiments, for the time being at any rate. He +knew that they would be likely to be sent to the front immediately, +and the front seemed the place for him to be. + +And then he was already acquainted with many of the men, and with the +colonel, and he realised that this would be an advantage to him in his +work. So he made his plans to keep with them. + +First they went to Manila, where they remained for a week. The quaint +old city was a veritable fairy-land of wonders to Archie, who had +never before been in a city so ancient, and here there were so many +unusual things to be seen. There seemed to be absolutely no end to the +winding streets, delightful old houses, and interesting churches, and +the boy spent many days in exploring every corner of the island +capital. The colonel warned him several times that he must look out +for robbers and other suspicious characters, but Archie laughed at his +fears. But the colonel was right, as he found later on. + + CHAPTER XV. + + ARCHIE STARTS OUT ON AN EXPLORING TOUR AND HAS SOME STRANGE ADVENTURES + AMONG THE NATIVES-- SEIZED BY THE REBELS. + +THE days passed very quickly in Manila. the regiment was quartered in +an old palace which had once been used as a residence by the Spanish +governors of the islands, and Archie remained in the palace with them. +There was very little to do while they were there. Each morning there +were anxious inquiries for news from the front, but there was always +the same discouraging reply that no trace had yet been found of the +fleeing Aguinaldo. The men were gradually becoming disheartened at the +long wait, and there were frequent statements by the officers that +Aguinaldo would soon be caught if they were sent out after him. The +dissatisfaction with the general in command grew stronger every day, +and at last things reached a point where there was very little loyalty +and patriotism displayed among the troops. + +The drilling was continued, however, by order of the colonel, and +every morning the troops marched out to a public square near the +palace, and went through the same old manoeuvres which they had +practised for months past. And it was harder for them to drill each +week. At first they were willing enough to work, for there was then +some prospect of their being able to use their knowledge in a fight, +but now it was beginning to seem that they would simply remain in this +old palace for a few months longer, and then go back again to San +Francisco. With this opinion in their hearts, it is not to be wondered +at that most of the men became slouchy and careless in their manners +and dress, or that even the officers themselves became disgusted at +the long wait for marching orders. + +Things had been going on in this way for a long time, when Archie made +up his mind that it was time he was hustling about and finding +something to write about which would be interesting to readers of the +Enterprise. He had sent two articles describing his life with the +soldiers in the old palace, but he knew that he ought to find +something more exciting, and more like his first articles. So, after +much thought, he decided that a good plan would be for him to take a +little trip into the interior of the island, to see whether he could +find any traces of the insurgents. The colonel had held all along for +a month, now, that the Filipinos were probably all about Manila, and +still he couldn't get the permission of the general in command to go +out and investigate the matter. The colonel figured that it would be +an easy thing for the insurgents to come as near to the city as they +cared to now, for Lawton and Wheeler were far away in the interior +after Aguinaldo, and the troops in Manila were quietly drilling, and +eating, and sleeping, with no thought of doing anything else. This +line of argument seemed very reasonable to Archie, and he volunteered +to go out and see if he could make any discoveries. The colonel +assured him that he would be in no danger, even if he were caught by +the rebels, for they would never suspect a boy of Archie's age and +size of being a spy. So the lad felt no fear at all, and made what few +preparations there were to be made before starting. He secured a +knapsack from the commissary officer, and in this he placed what few +belongings he wanted to take with him, together with his note-books +and some provisions for the trip. Then he secured a small pistol, +which he carried in his hip pocket, and he was disappointed because +the colonel would not allow him to carry a rifle. And when he had +everything ready he said good-bye to his friends in the regiment, and +departed from the palace amid a multitude of cheers. At the last +moment the colonel tried to dissuade him from starting, for fear he +might meet with some accident, but Archie was determined to make the +attempt. + +It was his plan not to go farther than fifty miles in the interior, +for he thought that if he found no traces of the rebels in that +distance there would be little use in going farther into the forest, +for, it would be almost impossible to find them there. So he set out +gaily upon his trip of exploration, and Archie couldn't remember when +he had been so happy before, save on that day when he first visited +the office of the Enterprise. This adventure was exciting enough to +please the wildest boy in America, and Archie could imagine how +envious the other boys would be if they could but know the trip he was +having. It had an official air to it, too, for had not the colonel +been most anxious, in the beginning, that he should go, and did he not +say that he would reward him handsomely if he were successful in +locating any of the insurgents, or in proving that he had been right +when he said they were near Manila? It was all as perfect an adventure +as Archie could have imagined. He could not have planned a better one +if he had been able to select any trip he could think of. + +He planned that it would take him at least three days to walk fifty +miles, and perhaps longer, for the roads were not very good in some +places. He knew that he would find many villages and towns along the +way, too, for the island was thinly settled in this neighbourhood. So +if he were obliged to rest, he would never be at a loss for a place to +get a bed. Archie couldn't help thinking, as he walked along the road +outside Manila, this first morning, that he might find a body of the +insurgents in possession of one of these towns. They were very bold, +he had heard, and they probably knew that there were no American +troops anywhere in the neighbourhood, outside the city of Manila +itself. And, knowing this, he knew they wouldn't hesitate to camp at +the very gates of the city, for they were marvellously successful in +getting away into the interior whenever an American force made its +appearance. + +As he thought of this possibility, Archie couldn't help being a little +fearful of what might happen to him should he fall into the hands of +the insurgents, and he began to wonder if he had not been a little +foolhardy, after all, in starting off on such a wild-goose chase. "But +I will have something new to send Mr. Van Bunting about the interior +towns," he said to himself, "and if I am captured, why, I will have a +great deal to write about when I am released." This thought made the +lad happy again, and he trudged along the road with as much vim and +energy as he had displayed during those weary days when he was walking +to New York to make his fortune. And it was a much more interesting +country in which to walk than the New York State counties had been. +The vegetation was rich and luxuriant everywhere, palm-trees, vines, +and flowers growing in profusion all along the road. In every +dooryard, in front of every hut, there grew what seemed to Archie a +veritable fairy bower of the most richly coloured flowers in +existence. And they were growing, apparently, without cultivation. He +had seen nothing like them before, even in California, and he longed +to pluck some of them to send home, if they had only been wax instead +of nature's blossoms. As it was, he kept his arms filled with them for +awhile, but after a time he grew tired carrying them, and was obliged +to drop them by the roadside. + +The country looked as if it might have been very prosperous at one +time. There were plantations laid out in excellent fashion, and the +soil seemed rich and fertile. But instead of growing crops, and +storehouses filled with spices and coffee, there was desolation +everywhere, and it was easy to see that the Spaniards had determined +to leave but little behind them for the Yankees. Every other farmhouse +and wayside hut was deserted, their occupants having gone, apparently, +to join Aguinaldo, and the whole country, outside the towns, seemed to +be wholly deserted and left to grow up in weeds and tangled vines. + +The sun was warm, the sky was a perfect blue, and it seemed a +delightful day in every way. But it made Archie sad to walk through a +district which had been made so desolate, and he hadn't walked many +hours before he wished that he might soon reach a town, where he could +find some life, and where he could remain overnight. For by the middle +of the afternoon he was tired walking, and made up his mind that +fifteen miles was enough for any one to do in one day. But he was +obliged to keep on walking for two hours longer before he reached a +village, and the great sun was just sinking behind the blue hills in +the distance when he entered the one main village street, which was +long and narrow, winding in and out among the cabins and huts, as if +it had been laid out after the houses were built, for the convenience +of the people. It was a poor excuse for a public thoroughfare. There +had probably been a pavement of some sort at one time, but now the +street was a mass of rubbish of every sort, straw, dust, old bricks, +and bits of stone being thrown together in every rut, so that it was +exceedingly difficult to walk along with any comfort. + +There was no life visible in the settlement. Almost every hut had its +shades drawn at the windows, and there was absolutely no one to be +seen in the street. As he passed down the road, Archie could catch +occasional glimpses of black eyes staring at him through a lattice, or +he could hear some muttered word as he walked close to a window. From +these signs he knew that he was observed, and he felt very much +embarrassed as he continued his walk down this deserted lane, for he +felt instinctively now that hundreds of eyes were watching his every +movement. + +Finally, he came to the public square, and he sat down here to look +about him. From general appearances, he judged this to be a town of +some two thousand inhabitants, for there was a very respectable +administration building, and a good-sized church. There were but two +streets of any consequence, the one by which he had entered the town, +and another running at right angles in the opposite direction. In this +latter street, as he stood in the square, he noticed a three-story +structure with a sign outside, and he decided to go there and make +inquiries as to where he might be able to secure a lodging for the +night. It looked as if it might be an inn of some sort, or at least a +store, so he walked rapidly up to the entrance and knocked twice upon +the door. This place, in spite of its sign, looked more deserted and +shut-up than any other building he had yet seen in the town, and he +wondered whether he would receive any answer to his knocks. It was +indeed a long time before he heard a sound within, but at last there +was some muttering inside, the door flew open, and Archie found +himself in the arms of three Filipinos, who threw him upon the floor +and bound him, hands and feet. It was all so sudden that he had no +time to cry out, and before he could say anything at all he was thrown +into a dark room, and the door shut behind him. + + CHAPTER XVI. + + A PLEASANT CAPTOR-- BRAVE BILL HICKSON ALLOWS ARCHIE TO ESCAPE-- FIRST + GLIMPSE OF AGUINALDO. + +FOR a long time Archie lay still upon the floor, being unable to move +a muscle from the shock of his encounter with the men, and because he +was tightly bound with ropes. And then he at last went off to sleep, +feeling frightened because he was in the hands of strange men, and a +little satisfied, too, because he was the victim of some adventure +which might turn out in a very interesting way. + +When he awoke, it was morning, and the light came into the room +through two small square windows, set high up in the wall. Archie +looked about the room with great curiosity, but found little there to +interest him. There was nothing to be seen but an old bed without +spring or mattress, and a rickety chair with but three legs, which +stood in one corner. The walls, he was surprised to observe, were +handsomely decorated with tapestries, and Archie at once made up his +mind that this had at one time been a private dwelling-house, and had +probably been owned by some rich Spaniard who kept a store on the +ground floor, and lived in these rooms. The insurgents had probably +driven the family out of the country and had taken possession of the +house, which they had stripped of everything useful, leaving the +tapestries and works of art behind them. + +These suppositions were cut short by the entrance of a man who +appeared to be a half-breed, and who immediately began to speak to +Archie in broken English. The fellow had a pleasant face, and +presented a fairly good appearance, and Archie wondered how he could +have come to this place. "I suppose you have been wondering," said the +man, "why you have been thrown into this room, and it won't take me +long to explain things. You see this town belongs to us just now, and +we don't propose to have any Yankee spies around here to tell Otis of +our whereabouts. There ain't no troops in this town now, but there's +likely to be any minute, and we patriots was sent here to take +possession of things and arrange quarters for our army. Let me tell +you that the Filipino army will be in this town to-day, and if you +don't look sharp you'll be the first prisoner to be shot. Aguinaldo +isn't a man to deal easily with spies, and if he thought you was out +here for that purpose he'd have you riddled with bullets in a minute." +The man came up to Archie and began to undo the ropes. "I reckon I can +trust you free for awhile, for there's no use in your trying to get +away, with the Filipino army all around the town. Sit down there now, +and I'll see that you get some breakfast. You can tell, perhaps, that +I ain't no Filipino, nor never was one. I'm from Arizona, U. S. A., +and I'm fightin' with these rebels for what there is in it just now. +I'm mighty curious to find out how you come to be out in these +diggin's, youngster." + +Archie was willing enough to tell all about himself. He liked this +man, in spite of his being with the rebels, and he felt that he would +be able to make friends with him if he were careful to do so. And the +best plan seemed to be for him to tell all about himself, how he +happened to go to New York, and how he had been sent out here as a boy +correspondent for the Enterprise. The man from Arizona listened to the +recital with open mouth and eyes, and he frequently laughed outright +at some of the experiences Archie described. When the narrative was +finished, he seized Archie's hand, and said, "My name's Bill Hickson, +and you can count on me after this fer a friend, youngster. I'll swan +if I ever heard tell of sich nerve in my life. I'll see that you get +out of this scrape all right, but you must be careful to keep up +appearances of being under guard. I'm a big-bug in this Filipino +shack, but I wouldn't dare to let you out openly. So you jist kind of +lay around and look despondent, and depend on me to make things as +easy for you as I can. You kin come down-stairs now, if you like, and +I'll present you to my friends. There don't none of 'em speak no +English but me, and all I can do is to interduce you, and tell 'em +that you ain't no spy, and that you are very sorry you ever ran up +agin this here town. And I guess I'll be expressin' your sentiments +exactly, won't I?" Archie nodded, but in his heart he felt that he +wasn't sorry he had run up against the town. This Bill Hickson, in +himself, was a character worth going miles to meet, and if what he +said was true, Archie stood a good chance of seeing the notorious +Aguinaldo, with his army of Filipinos, before the day was over. + +When he reached the lower floor, he found several men lounging about +in another poorly furnished room, and they were all similar in +appearance to the men he had seen at the door the night before. They +looked at him in an indifferent way, and didn't seem surprised that he +should be walking about without restraint. Bill Hickson stepped up to +some of them, and, after a few words in some language Archie didn't +understand, motioned for the boy to step up. He was told to shake +hands with "all the gents," and after he had done so he was offered a +cigar, and Archie began to realise that it was a very good thing that +he had a friend at the Filipino court. He thought, too, that if these +men were samples, Aguinaldo had a very poor lot of retainers, and +later on he perceived the real cause for the failure of the rebels to +do anything more than keep up a constant retreat. It was plain to see +that the followers of the rebel leader were "in it for what it was +worth." They had no difficulty, any of them, in getting enough to eat, +and often they had opportunities to enjoy themselves in great fashion +by taking possession of some Filipino village and ejecting the inmates +of some particularly fine house, with a well-stocked wine-cellar. + +In looking out of the window Archie perceived that the town looked +very different this morning than when he saw it the evening before. +Instead of drawn blinds and shuttered windows, there was everywhere an +evident attempt at decoration in honour of the coming army. The +streets were crowded with a throng in holiday garb, and some of the +soldiers of the rebel army had already arrived, as they could be +easily distinguished by their ragged dress and ridiculous airs, +walking up and down the street. It was all such a scene as Archie had +never seen before, and would have made a great success as the scenario +for a comic opera. But as a welcome to an army, supposedly victorious, +it was a dismal failure, and Archie wondered what General Aguinaldo +would think when he entered the town and saw such shoddy patriotism +everywhere. He hadn't long to wait, however, before seeing the famous +rebel and the effect upon him of the celebration in his honour. It was +about ten o'clock in the morning when he rode into the public square, +followed by about two hundred ragged Filipinos, armed with all sorts +of guns and pistols. Archie saw the arrival from the roof of the +building which was his mock prison, and he could scarcely refrain from +laughing outright when he saw the boasted Filipino "army." It was the +poorest excuse for a body of troops that he could imagine. + +Aguinaldo rode a fine bay horse, as did several of his followers, but +by far the majority of the regiment, if such it could be called, was +afoot, and most of them were barefooted, too. The rebel leader looked +very much like most of his pictures, with the exception that he had an +older look, and some gray hairs about the temples. He was attired in a +gaudy uniform of some sort, with epaulets and a Spanish general's hat, +and he carried himself with great dignity of manner. Dismounting from +his horse, he entered the administration building, where he held a +conference with the town officials, and probably made them pay over +whatever money was in the treasury "for the cause." He remained within +for two hours or more, and all this time Archie stood upon the roof +and watched the remarkable scene in the streets below. The troops had +scattered, and were engaged in robbing the housewives of whatever they +had in their houses to eat. And the women seemed willing to provide +them with whatever they could afford, and there was much enthusiasm +evident everywhere. But the celebration was very quiet, in spite of +the friendly reception, There were no bands of music, no cheering, and +no singing of battle-hymns. The whole affair reminded Archie of some +camp of a section of the famous Coxey army, when he had seen it long +ago. The soldiers were no better dressed than tramps, and there was +but little more discipline among them. + +And the celebration and occupation of the town came to a sudden end. +While Archie stood upon the roof at noontime, he saw a runner enter +the administration building in great haste, and in a minute Aguinaldo +came hurrying down the steps. Then there was a great commotion in the +streets, and the two hundred followers of the chief were seen +assembled in the square, and before they were all there the general +was riding out of the town toward the interior of the island. There +was no noise, and the inhabitants stood about apparently speechless, +and wondering what had happened. Their reception had come to an +untimely end, and their hero had left them unceremoniously. Soon the +last of the straggling troops were out of the town, and just as Archie +was beginning to think of going down from the roof Bill Hickson stuck +his head up and gave him some astonishing news. "Stay where you're at, +young feller, till these fool Filipinos gits away from here. You saw +how they skedaddled, didn't ye? Well, Uncle Sam is comin' after 'em +with shot-guns, and old Aggy heard the news just in time. He is bound +for the jungle, about forty miles southeast, and he won't reach it +until to-morrow night, anyhow, and if the officers are quick they may +be able to catch him. Now you stay here, lad, and give 'em the news +when they git here. They'll thank you for it, and you may be the means +of gittin' this fool of an Aguinaldo captured. If you does, why, your +future's all right. And ye can tell the colonel, or whoever's in +command, that Bill Hickson is still with 'em, and that he's doin' his +best fer Uncle Sam, and tell 'em that Aggy has got about three +thousand troops altogether, but only about a thousand with him. Now, +good-bye, lad, and I hope I'll see ye again." + +And Archie saw brave Bill Hickson get down from the roof. He brushed +some tears from his eyes as he realised that here was a brave soldier +doing good work for his country. A moment later he saw him running +across the square with four of the Filipinos, and waving his hat to +the "youngster" as he went. He followed him with his eyes as long as +he could, and then he sat down and made a solemn vow that Bill Hickson +should be named among the heroes of the war. + + CHAPTER XVII. + + ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICAN TROOPS-- ARCHIE THE HERO OF THE REGIMENT. + +ARCHIE descended from the roof, and found everything below in a state +of wild disorder. The fleeing rebels had taken with them all they had +time to get together, but in their haste they had left behind many of +their most useful belongings. In a cupboard of the dining-room Archie +found a supply of food and wines sufficient to feed several people for +a week, so he supposed that it had been the intention of the occupants +of the house to remain for some days. The news that the Americans were +coming upset all their plans, however, and now, as often before, they +were obliged to flee before them, leaving behind most of their +creature comforts in the way of food and furniture. + +"What a life they must be leading," thought Archie to himself, "going +from one place to another, constantly endeavouring to hide from the +Americans. Now in some town, now in the wilderness, and again +venturing as near as possible to the boundaries of Manila." And he +could scarcely help admiring their courage, or recklessness, rather, +in camping so near the head of the American government, where they +might expect to be caught in a trap at any moment. But Archie +realised, too, that such an army can get away in a very short time, +and he began to have serious doubts as to whether the Americans would +ever be able to capture Aguinaldo and his men. For knowing the islands +perfectly, and being able to get from one point to another in the +easiest and quickest way, the rebels have a great deal in their +favour. + +Selecting some canned beef and some native bread and cheese, Archie +managed to make a very good meal for himself, though he ate hurriedly +for fear some of the rebels might return. As soon as he had finished +he returned to his position on the roof, for there he knew that he +would be safe in case the building was entered by the townspeople. +From his high perch he looked down into the streets, and was surprised +to find them as quiet and as much deserted as they had been the night +before. The news of the coming of the Americans had been effective in +quieting the enthusiasm of the morning, and all the townsfolk had +again entered their homes and put the shutters up before their +windows. One would have taken the place for a deserted village, +judging from appearances. But Archie knew that within the shuttered +windows and barred doors there were hundreds of people waiting +anxiously for the arrival of the American troops, and making ready to +come out, when required to do so, and again declare their allegiance +to the stars and stripes. The cowardly wretches were diplomatic enough +to be always on the side of the victorious. When the rebels occupied +the town they were loyal to them, and when the Americans came, as they +often did, they came out into the square and cheered loudly for Uncle +Sam. But of course the Americans knew very well that their sympathies +were with the rebels, and the rebels knew it, too, or they would never +have dared to venture so near Manila. + +About five in the afternoon, there was a sound of many men marching +along the road, and in a little while Archie was able to see the +Americans coming down the street. It was a sight to cheer his heart +after all his experiences of the last day and night. The column was +marching at double-quick, and the handsome colonel rode a great gray +horse at the head of the regiment. Archie saw that they would reach +the square in two or three minutes, and, throwing discretion to the +winds, he descended from the roof, almost fell down the stairways in +his haste, and was soon running toward the administration building. He +mounted the great steps leading up to the portico, just as the colonel +rode into the square, and the expression of surprise on the faces of +all the men was funny to see. In a minute every hat was off, and the +regiment was giving "three cheers for the boy reporter," while the +colonel, rapidly dismounting, hurried up to speak with Archie. + +"Why, how did you come here?" he demanded. "Haven't the rebels been +here, and how did you escape them? Which way did they go, and was +Aguinaldo with them? For pity's sake, say something." + +Archie wasn't long explaining things, and his news was so explicit and +so valuable that the colonel grasped his hand and said, almost with +tears in his eyes, "God bless you, lad. You may have aided us to catch +the gang, and anyhow you've proved your bravery." + +By this time the regiment was standing at ease, and all the men were +watching Archie and the colonel with great interest. Knowing that they +were all curious to learn how the lad happened to have escaped the +rebels, the good colonel made a short speech in which he explained +everything. He dwelt particularly upon the bravery of Bill Hickson, +and held him up as a model for all the men to follow. "And now three +cheers for Bill Hickson and our boy reporter again," he cried, when he +had finished, and they were given with a will by all the men. + +The regimental officers held a short consultation, and it was decided, +on the strength of the news brought by Archie, to push on after the +rebels as fast as was possible. But it was now sunset, and there was +no use trying to go farther to-night, so it was agreed that the best +plan would be to give the men a good rest overnight, as they had made +the entire march from Manila since five o'clock in the morning. "They +will do all the better to-morrow for the rest," said the colonel. +Archie was valuable in being able to guide the officers to the +building where he had been confined, assuring them that they would +find everything needful there in the way of food, and a place to +sleep. Some of the soldiers were quartered in various houses of the +town, for the people had soon turned out into the street again, and +had expressed their friendship for their "masters," as they called +them. Archie could hardly refrain from laughing as he saw some of +those who in the morning had bowed down to Aguinaldo vowing +everlasting allegiance to our flag, and he assured the colonel that he +couldn't be too careful while in the town to guard against surprises. +"No one knows the beasts better than I do," was the answer. "I know +they can't be trusted." + +Archie was invited to remain in the building with the officers, and +while they prepared and ate a lunch he busied himself in writing a +description of his last two days' experiences. He knew that a +messenger would soon start for Manila, and that a boat would leave +that city on the next day for Hong Kong, so be wanted to get his +narrative written in order to send it to Mr. Van Bunting at once. He +felt that he had some very interesting things to write about, for it +wasn't every correspondent who had seen Aguinaldo, and had been +captured by the rebel army. He knew that most of them were content to +remain in Manila, and send only what they could get from the general +in command, and that this description of the rebels would be something +new, at any rate. So he wrote it very carefully, and succeeded in +getting it ready in time to send, so that it would be in the office of +the Enterprise in less than a month. As he sat at the table writing, +Archie thought of the great changes which can take place in one's +surroundings in a few weeks. It seemed ages to him since the day when +he left home for the first time, and the experiences he had on his way +to New York seemed now to belong to the far-away period of his +boyhood. He was beginning to feel very old now, because he had been +through so much of late, and he could hardly realise that he was still +eighteen. + +He wrote a short note to his mother at home, telling her not to worry, +and assuring her that he was in good health and in no danger whatever +of being captured by the rebels, for Archie felt quite safe after his +experience with the insurgent leaders. He knew that no one of their +prisoners was ever likely to come to a very bad end. They were far too +slipshod in their methods of holding prisoners. He was sorry not to be +able to send a longer letter home, but he knew that this note was much +better than sending nothing at all, and that it would make his mother +very happy to hear from him at all. + +The officers, when Archie returned to the dining-room, if such it +could be called, were engaged in making a very good meal from the +provisions in the cupboard, and they thanked Archie warmly for leading +them to such a good place. "By Jove," said one of the captains, "we +sha'n't want to return to Manila at all, when we can get such grub as +this is outside." But the colonel assured them all that they needn't +expect to find such accommodations everywhere in the interior of the +country. "No doubt we'll all be living on plantains in a day or two, +if we don't catch that fox of an Aguinaldo. And I'm willin' to bet now +that we won't find him. That feller's too slick for us. He's proved it +many a time before." + +"And to think that he was here only this morning! The nerve of him, to +come within twenty-five miles of Manila!" said another. + +"I'll be mighty well satisfied if we can catch a few of his ragged +men," continued the colonel. "That will be something to have +accomplished, anyhow, and more than some other regiments have done, +when they were sent after him. He's the cutest feller I've heard of in +a long while. If it wasn't for Bill Hickson we'd never hear tell of +him, even. He could enter Manila, I believe, and go out again without +us ever knowin' it at all." + +Archie was now called on to tell something of the rebel leader's +appearance, and how he had acted while in the town. + +"I didn't see very much of him," said Archie, "because he spent most +of the morning with the big-bugs of the town, over in the +administration building. But when he rode into town on his horse he +looked mighty dignified, though he fell some in my estimation when I +saw him standing up. He looked rather dumpy then. He carried himself +with a lot of dignity, a little more than was becoming, I thought, and +he received the cheers of the people as a matter of course, and hardly +took the trouble to acknowledge them, even by a bow. The officers of +the town treated him with great deference, and I guess there's no +doubt but what the Filipinos look upon him as their leader." + +"Oh, there's no doubt of that," said the colonel. "We've learned that +long ago. They stand up for him whenever he needs them, and they give +him all they've got to help carry on the war." + +The meal finished, the officers smoked awhile, and then went to bed, +for they were to be up at four in the morning. + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + THE MARCH AFTER THE REBELS-- THE FIRST BATTLE-- ARCHIE WOUNDED. + +ARCHIE was awakened at four the next morning by the sound of the +bugle, and, hastily dressing, he hurried down-stairs to learn the +plans of the officers. He found that they were going to start on the +march as soon as the men had drunk their morning coffee, and Archie +immediately made preparations to go with them. The colonel looked on +in amazement. "Why are you packing your knapsack!" he asked. "You +surely don't think you're going with us? You never in the world can +stand this hard march in the hot sun." + +"Oh, yes, I think I can," said Archie. "You see I have walked a great +deal in these last two months, and I don't think I will have any +difficulty in keeping up with the troops. And I do so want to see some +fighting, and to learn whether you capture Aguinaldo. You don't object +to my going, now, do you?" + +"No," said the colonel. "If you think you can stand the marching, and +are so anxious to come, why, I suppose you can do so. But you mustn't +blame me if anything should happen to you." + +Archie was ready enough to promise this, for he had no idea that he +would meet with an accident of any kind, and so he continued to pack +his things in the knapsack. The rebels had emptied everything in a +corner, and had evidently intended taking the knapsack with them when +they went; but they left so hurriedly they couldn't possibly think of +everything, and so had left it behind, much to Archie's relief, for he +would have been unable to secure another one anywhere outside Manila. +In a very short time the regiment gathered in the streets immediately +about the square, and soon the men were marching out of the town, much +to the gratification of the residents, who watched them from their +roofs and windows. Archie fell in at the head of the column, and found +no difficulty in keeping up with the soldiers near him, though they +were marching at a rapid rate. + +The town limits were soon passed, and they swung into the white +country road, which presented the same scene of desolation which had +been everywhere visible to Archie on his way from Manila. The +farm-houses were nearly all deserted, and there was but little attempt +at cultivating the soil, which would have been productive enough had +it not been overgrown with tangled vines and weeds. And as they went +farther into the country the wilderness increased, until at last the +road itself was filled with growing vines, and the men had difficulty +in walking. Every little while some trooper would fall headlong, +tripped by some vine, and the others would laughingly help him up +before passing on. These little incidents did much to enliven the +march, which became monotonous after the first six or seven hours, and +Archie appreciated the mishaps very much until he took a few tumbles +himself. He was usually, much to the amusement of the officers, +marching at the very head of the regiment, and "setting the pace," he +said, so that he was more likely to trip than any of the others. He +was always the first to discover a snake in the road, too, and kept a +great stick with which to kill them. He seemed to have no fear of +them, but walked up to lay them out, and on one occasion the colonel +warned him just in time or he would certainly have been bitten by a +snake whose bite is certain death. This experience made him more +careful, but he still kept his place at the head of the regiment, and +came to be called the mascot by the men. + +At noon the regiment halted at a grassy spot, where there were trees, +and made their dinners from their knapsacks. The officers warned them +to go carefully, or they would find themselves without provisions +before returning to Manila, for they had been so sure of catching the +rebels at the town behind that they had neglected to bring along many +supplies. Now, of course, they didn't know how long it would take them +to find them,-- two days at least, and probably longer. + +Archie had stocked his knapsack with some food from the old +headquarters in the town, so that he felt safe for a few days, at any +rate. He ate carefully, however, and was careful not to waste +anything, for he realised that he might be called upon to aid some of +the soldiers before long, + +Dinner over, the regiment marched on again, for the officers now began +to think that they had made a mistake in not pursuing the fleeing +rebels the night before. They met several Spaniards, who told them +that Aguinaldo had marched all night long without stopping, so that he +was now at least thirty-six hours ahead of them, and some of the men +began to be discouraged, saying that it was no use following him up +with such a small force. "Other regiments have tried to find him in +this way, and none of them have succeeded," said one of the privates +to Archie. "They keep us marching for three or four days, and finally +they decide to return to Manila, without having found any trace of the +rascal beyond hearing that he had passed this way or that." + +The officers couldn't depend upon what the natives told them of +Aguinaldo's movements, for, almost without exception, they were in his +favour, and always lied to the Americans to try to throw them off the +track. It was due to this that they proceeded very cautiously, and +still, notwithstanding their extreme care, they found themselves, when +night came on this first day, in a small village where no one had seen +anything of the rebel army. There was no denying the fact that they +were off the trail, and the colonel stormed about in a terrible way +when he learned of their mistake. There was no use going back in the +dark to hunt for a trail they had mistaken in the daylight, so the +regiment remained in the village overnight. They were a lot of very +discouraged men, and the officers were enraged at the mistake, for +which there was no one but themselves to blame. + +Early in the morning they retraced their way, and started off in an +opposite direction to the one taken yesterday. It seemed that this +must certainly be the path taken by the rebels, but the regiment +marched until nearly noon without seeing any signs of them. Then, when +they had halted for dinner, the colonel decided to let the men rest +while two companies were sent ahead to reconnoitre, and report as to +whether there were any signs of men having passed this way. He was +beginning to think that the whole affair would be a wild-goose chase, +and he decided that, if these companies found nothing, the whole +regiment would return to Manila forthwith, probably to be the +laughing-stock of the army there. + +The remaining companies had nothing to do now but lay about on the +soft grass, and rest. They were encamped in a stretch of grassy loam +in the midst of what appeared to be a dense forest, and all about were +evidences of the great fertility of the soil. The vegetation was so +dense that one could scarcely see through it, and the glade was cool +and pleasant, though overhead the sun was shining as warm as ever. It +was a lovely oasis in a wilderness of undergrowth, and the men enjoyed +it to the utmost. + +About three in the afternoon the sound of firing was heard in the +distance. First there was one shot, then another, and several more at +rapid intervals. Archie was one of the first to jump to his feet, but +in a second every man was at attention, with his musket in his hands. +The colonel listened closely for two minutes, and then the firing +began once more, and this time it seemed nearer. He hesitated no +longer, but gave the order to march ahead. "They've evidently found +the cowards at last," he muttered to Archie. "You stay here, where you +will be out of danger." But Archie was determined to do nothing of the +kind. He felt his pistol safe in his hip pocket, and when the +companies swung out of the forest and into the road he was marching in +his old place at the head of the column. Again the colonel ordered him +to remain behind, but Archie insisted that he would not, "Then go to +the rear," cried the colonel, angry for the moment. "I will not have +you shot down by a rebel sharpshooter the very first one." And Archie +knew that he would have to obey. + +The column went ahead at double-quick, and finally broke into a steady +run. Every minute the noise of rifle-shots sounded nearer, and it +seemed probable that the two companies were retreating before the +insurgents. The men were wild to reach the scene of the firing, and +the officers had all they could do to keep them in line. All the time +they were running hardly a sound was heard save the noise of their +boots upon the soft earth, and they all knew that they could probably +take the insurgents by surprise. + +Archie's heart was beating very hard as they drew nearer and nearer to +the scene. He felt that he was about to see his first fighting, and he +determined not to miss any part of it. So he gradually ran ahead until +finally he was almost at the head of the column again. + +The troops made so little noise that the two companies, retreating +slowly, were upon them without knowing it. But when they discovered +that their comrades had come to their aid they set up such a cheering +as Archie had never heard before, and immediately faced about and went +ahead again. The rebels were about a quarter of a mile behind, +marching rapidly forward, and firing as they came. Some of them were +running among the trees at the roadside, firing incessantly, and +hitting some poor soldier almost every time they fired. They were the +famous sharpshooters, of whom the soldiers in Manila had heard so +much. + +When the rebels observed that the Americans had received +reinforcements, they halted suddenly, and before they could turn about +the Yankees were almost upon them, firing volleys into them as they +came. Many of the insurgents fell in the roadway, and the others fled +wildly in every direction. Most of them entered the dense forest, +where the Americans captured nearly a hundred of them after the others +had surrendered, and some were such good runners that they escaped +down the roadway. The whole rebel army presented a scene of wild +confusion. Some of the men knelt and begged for mercy, and some cried +out in a horrible way as they saw the dreaded Yankees advancing. But +it was all over very soon. The prisoners were placed in line, and +marched back along the road, and the dead, of which there were about +fifty, were soon buried. Aguinaldo had escaped in the forest, and no +one suggested that he should be followed. All the officers knew that +such a course would be useless, and most of them were very well +satisfied with what had already been accomplished. The prisoners +numbered more than six hundred, and the dead a hundred more, while +there were about seventy-five wounded. So if what Bill Hickson said +were true, not more than two hundred insurgents could have escaped. + +Among the seriously wounded was a man whom Archie recognised +immediately as one of his captors of two days previous, and while he +was looking over the bodies for the other men, he came suddenly to +brave Bill Hickson, lying face downward in the road. He almost +screamed with fear that he might be dead, and when one of the men +hurried up to him he told him who the man was. The colonel was soon on +hand, and it was found that the brave spy was not seriously wounded, +and would recover soon under proper treatment. + +When the insurgent wounded were cared for, it was discovered that the +two companies sent out to reconnoitre had also suffered losses, and +when they marched back along the line of their retreat no less than +five dead and about twenty wounded were found. This sad news threw a +gloom over the entire regiment, and when they started back to Manila +they marched in quiet, and without rejoicing over their victory, which +had proved so costly. + +Poor Archie, when they started to march, found, to his great disgust, +that he was so weak he couldn't walk far, and he thought this must be +due to the fright he had received. He was very angry with himself, +until the surgeon examined him and announced that he had a bullet in +his arm. And then Archie confessed that he had felt a stinging +sensation at one time during the firing, but had thought nothing of +it. Now his disgust was turned to great delight, for the idea of being +wounded in battle was glorious to his mind. "I'll bet I wounded more +than one insurgent," he told the surgeon, "for I discharged every +barrel of my revolver." The wound was not at all serious, but he was +told to be quiet for a few days. He was given one of the rebel horses +to ride back to Manila, and he felt like a real hero in many ways. + + CHAPTER XIX. + + RETURN TO MANILA-- IN THE HOSPITAL-- CONGRATULATED BY ALL-- WRITING TO + THE PAPER OF HIS EXPERIENCES. + +IT took the regiment much longer to march back to Manila than it had +taken it to follow the rebels, for the wounded of both sides had to be +carried, and the arrangements for carrying them were very imperfect. +Fortunately, most of them were able to ride horses, and the officers +were successful in securing wagons enough to carry most of the others, +but there were about a dozen who could neither ride horses or lie in +wagons, but had to be carried on stretchers all the time. Of course +this was slow work, and the officers were glad enough when they +reached the town with the three-story building. Here they found things +very much as they had left them, two days before, save that the +inhabitants were more abject than ever to them, now that they had +captured most of the rebel force. + +It wasn't an easy matter to find quarters for so many men, and some of +the Filipinos were obliged to camp in the public square overnight, +while the wounded and ill were given beds in the various houses of the +town. The inhabitants were required to furnish food, too, for the +Americans were entirely out of almost everything. They still had some +hardtack, but of meat and coffee there was none. The people of the +town pretended to be very glad to serve their "masters," but every one +knew that the natives would be only too glad of a chance to cut the +throat of every Yankee soldier. + +The officers again occupied the old building which they had used +during their former stay, and Archie was invited to share it with +them, for they expected to rest in this town over the next day, before +proceeding to Manila. The men's uniforms and equipment generally +needed cleaning and repairing, and the colonel was anxious for them +all to appear as well as possible when they returned victorious to the +island capital. So the next day was spent in cleaning and washing, and +by evening most of the soldiers looked as if they had never left +Manila. Then came a surprise for every one, for into the town marched +a regiment of militia from Manila, sent out to see whether the first +regiment needed reinforcements. They set up a great cheer when they +learned that most of the rebel force had been captured, and the night +was spent in a celebration of the great event. A band was scraped up +in the town, the great hall of the administration building was thrown +open, and there was dancing and music until an early hour in the +morning. All the belles of the town turned out to welcome the +soldiers, hypocrites that they were, and they danced with their +enemies as readily as they would waltz with their own dear Filipinos. +Every one seemed to have a good time, and the soldiers went to bed +just in time to get three hours' sleep before starting for Manila in +the morning. + +It was a great sight to see the two regiments, with the prisoners, +march out of the town at five the next morning. They made a fine +appearance in their well-brushed uniforms and bright equipment. The +townsfolk watched them out of sight, and then most likely cursed them +for a lot of vagabonds, but the soldiers didn't mind their curses. +They were all very happy at the prospect of getting back to Manila +again, and no one was more glad than Archie. He had somewhat recovered +from his wound now, and rode in his old place at the head of the +column, where he was the centre of interest to every one. The men +congratulated him on having proved such an excellent mascot, and he +laughed and talked with them until he was tired. + +The outskirts of the city were reached about five in the afternoon, +and as they marched through the streets to headquarters a band of +music preceded them, playing popular and patriotic airs. The sidewalks +were crowded with people, and Archie felt happier than for a long +time, because every one was curious to know who that boy could be +riding at the head of the troops, alongside the colonel. He was known +to most of the other troops in Manila, and received many a cheer from +them as they saw his arm in a sling, and when they finally reached the +general's headquarters, he was honoured with a handshake and the +congratulations of the commander himself. This was the climax to a +very happy day, and Archie went to bed in his little old bunk feeling +that he was a very lucky boy for having been wounded in battle. + +Of course the next few days were very busy ones for all the men, and +for Archie, too. He was obliged to tell, over and over, the story of +his experiences, and how he had managed to escape from the rebels when +they had him. This story always made the men roar with laughter, and +increased their already strong contempt for the Filipino army. He +told, too, about brave Bill Hickson, and that gentleman's cot was +always the centre of an admiring throng of visitors, who shook his +hand and told him how proud they were of what he had accomplished. And +all the poor hero could do was to smile feebly, for he was still too +ill to talk much. + +Archie felt that he had almost volumes to write about his experiences +in battle, and he did send a very long account of this encounter to +Mr. Van Bunting. It was written in his boyish way, but one of the +officers who read it said that it was the best thing of its kind he +had ever read, so he wasn't at all backward about mailing it. All the +other newspaper correspondents in Manila were wishing they had gone +with the regiment and witnessed the battle, but they had stayed in +Manila, thinking that this would be like the other expeditions of the +kind, a mere wild-goose chase, which wouldn't amount to anything at +all. They were all very anxious to get the details of the affair from +Archie, but he was shrewd enough not to tell them anything of value. +And the other correspondent of the Enterprise in Manila insisted that +Archie should send a cable message describing the affair, as well as a +written account, and this he finally consented to do. The +correspondent added a long account of Archie's personal bravery, how +he had been wounded, and how he had ridden back to Manila at the head +of the column. Archie would have been very much embarrassed had he +known this, for he was still modest, but the first thing he knew of it +was from a letter he received a few weeks later from Mr. Van Bunting, +congratulating him on what he had accomplished, and telling him that +he had long since more than earned his six hundred dollars. But for +weeks he was ignorant that any one in New York knew of his being +wounded. + +The days now began to pass as before in the camp at Manila. The wound +in Archie's arm was healing slowly, but he was hardly able to use that +member for a month or six weeks. Bill Hickson did not fare so well. He +lay for weeks on his cot in the hospital building, and was hardly +strong enough, for awhile, to talk. He was improving slowly, but the +doctors said it might be two months before he was able to walk about +and take his former active part in the campaign against the +insurgents. This enforced quiet was very trying to the brave man, and +Archie spent many hours reading to him, and telling of various things +he had learned at school and elsewhere. This constant companionship +served to strengthen their already close friendship, and it was soon +known among all the troops that Bill Hickson and the boy reporter were +inseparable. And every one who knew the story of their experiences +looked upon them as the two chief heroes of the war so far, because as +yet there had been few feats of bravery in the desultory campaigning +against the rebels. General Funston had swum the river, of course, but +many held that not even that feat compared with the bravery of Bill +Hickson in serving as a spy under Aguinaldo's very nose. The more +people heard about his experiences, the more remarkable they thought +him to be, until at last he was by far the most popular man in the +army at Manila. + +Archie sent many interesting letters to Mr. Van Bunting, telling of +the adventures of the brave spy, and one day he received a cablegram +telling him to send at least one of these letters by every steamer, +for people had become interested in hearing about him. So for some +time Archie wrote about Bill Hickson rather than about himself, and +was glad of the opportunity to do so. He knew that if a letter were +published every week or two in the Enterprise Bill Hickson would soon +be famous, and this was something he was very anxious to accomplish. +He felt that no fame could be too great for such a man, and no praise +too strong. + +The commanding general decided, about this time, to begin a more +active campaign against the insurgents. It was now the month of +December, and with the beginning of the new year he wanted to +inaugurate a series of attacks against them in every part of the +islands. He was beginning to feel the criticisms of the papers at +home, and of the newspaper men at Manila, and he felt that something +must be done immediately to retrieve his lost reputation for active +fighting. Every one, as soon as this announcement was made, wondered +what plan would be pursued to worry the rebels into submission, for it +was now generally agreed that the Americans would hardly be able to +capture the whole rebel army. It was too evident that they were +familiar with numerous hiding-places in the islands. The only thing to +do seemed to be to prevent their getting supplies, and to drive them +from one point to another, hoping that they would become discouraged +in the end and submit to the inevitable. + +So far the campaigning had consisted chiefly of such expeditions as +that accompanied by Archie, and most of these had returned to Manila +without having even seen a rebel soldier. It was not surprising, then, +that the general was becoming discouraged, and that he was anxious to +try a new policy. + +No one knew what the new plan would be until one day several cruisers +and gunboats made their appearance in the harbour. There had been no +war-ships at Manila for several weeks, and every one was surprised +that so many should arrive at once. There were rumours of a German +onslaught, and also gossip saying that Japan had decided to interfere, +but all these were set at naught when the general announced that the +war-ships were to be sent around the islands to bombard the rebel +villages, and to drive the rebel troops to the interior of the +islands, where it would be hard for them to receive supplies. + +This news made Archie very happy, and a plan at once occurred to him. +Why shouldn't he and Bill Hickson be allowed aboard a cruiser? It +would be the best thing possible for their health, and he set about +getting the necessary permit from the admiral. + +Bill Hickson was able to be about now, and he was overjoyed when +Archie said he thought they could arrange to go. "I'd like nothing +better than a voyage in the good salt air. I believe it will do me +more good than a month in the hospital," he said. Archie secured a +very strong letter from the general, and one day he stepped aboard the +flag-ship in the harbour. He had no difficulty in seeing the admiral, +and found him to be a very pleasant man to talk with. He read the +letter carefully, and then shook Archie cordially by the hand. "Yes," +he said, "I've heard of you, and of your friend, too. Every one in +Hong Kong knows how you two together bearded old Aguinaldo in his den, +and robbed him of most of his troops. It did me good to read about it +in the New York papers, too, and to know that you are both getting +your just measure of credit for the achievement." + +Archie blushed, and assured the admiral that he didn't do very much, +that it was all owing to Bill Hickson's bravery. "Oh, yes, I know," +laughed the admiral, "you lay it to him, and he will most likely give +you the credit. I've seen your kind before. But I like you all the +better for your modesty, lad. Of course you and your friend can have a +berth aboard ship, and aboard the flag-ship, too, where I can see you +both very often. You can come aboard whenever you wish, and stay as +long as you like." + +Archie could hardly thank the good officer for his kindness, and +hurried back to Manila. He found Bill Hickson waiting for him at the +wharf, and they rejoiced together over the good news. + + CHAPTER XX. + + AROUND THE ISLAND ON A WAR-SHIP-- BOMBARDING A FILIPINO TOWN. + +IT was early one morning that Bill Hickson and Archie went aboard the +flag-ship, but all hands were on duty there, and the gallant cruiser +was raising anchor preparatory to sailing off on her errand of +pacification by means of shell and shot, The two newcomers were +assigned a pleasant stateroom where they would not be far from the +cabin of the admiral himself, and where they could step out of their +door upon the quarter-deck, and get all the fresh air they needed. It +was a very comfortable place, with two soft bunks, and every +convenience usually found aboard the fastest ocean liner. When the +fellows saw it first, they could hardly believe it could all be for +them, but the officer assured them that it had been given them by the +admiral's own orders. So there was nothing for them to do but accept +the kindness, and to settle themselves down to having just as pleasant +a time as possible during the coming weeks at sea. + +It was generally understood that the cruiser was to make a complete +tour around the island of Luzon, investigating every suspicious port, +and shelling towns when such action proved necessary to convince the +rebels of Uncle Sam's superiority. The voyage was expected to occupy +nearly a month, for there was no reason for them to hurry, and the +admiral said he would like to take things easy. + +Neither Hickson nor Archie had ever before been aboard a war-ship, and +they both found much to interest them during the first few days at +sea. Every movement of the crew, every action of the ship, was of +great moment to them, and they found no lack of entertainment in +examining the great guns and the equipment of the vessel in the way of +firearms and ammunition. Archie became much interested, too, in the +science of navigation, and spent much time with the captain on the +bridge, or with the pilot in the lookout, learning as much as possible +about how the movement of the vessel is controlled. Before long he had +mastered the rudiments of the art, and the captain told him that he +might some day make an excellent navigator if he continued to take as +much interest in the charts as he did now. And Archie told him that he +was determined to master as much as possible of the business during +the voyage. Before he returned to Manila he knew more about it all +than even the captain would believe he knew, and the knowledge was +very valuable to him in days to come. + +The two visitors aboard took their meals at the officers' table, and +they kept the whole party interested for many days, with their stories +of the war in Luzon and of their very unusual adventures both at home +and in the Philippines. For it turned out that Bill Hickson had +visited almost every part of the United States, and had lived in all +sorts of places. He had been a cowboy in Texas, and a miner in the +Klondike, and he had also been a policeman in Chicago. He knew more +stories to tell than any other man at the table could think of, and he +told them in a way that was wholly charming. + +Archie found that every one was very much interested in hearing about +his leaving home, and how he had happened to become a reporter on the +New York Enterprise. No one seemed to tire of listening to his stories +of his adventures in the great American city, and many of the officers +told him that they would give a good deal to have had his experiences +in life. + +And so it wasn't long until the two chums were friendly with all on +board, and after awhile things went along as though Archie and Bill +had never lived elsewhere than aboard ship. There was nothing exciting +for nearly a week. The cruiser steamed slowly along the shore, +sometimes stopping entirely, while the officers levelled their glasses +upon the beach, to see whether there were any signs of the rebels +being there. Sometimes, if things looked suspicious, parties were sent +ashore to reconnoitre, but they seldom returned with news that would +encourage the admiral to investigate further. The days passed quietly, +and the two convalescents enjoyed themselves well enough. They were +both much improved already by the trip, and felt almost as well as +ever. They each had a steamer chair, and hour after hour they sat upon +the deck and watched the ever-changing panorama of the tropical shore. +Now the beach would descend slowly to the sea, and there would be +numerous palm-trees and luxuriant vegetation growing close within +view, but again there would be steep clips, which looked menacing to a +ship in the dark. But it was all beautiful, cliffs or sandy beach, and +Archie thought he had seldom passed such a wholly delightful week. + +But, of course, it all became monotonous in time, and every one, even +the officers, longed for a change. The reconnoitring parties were sent +out more frequently now, and every one hoped each time that they would +return with news of the rebels, but they were always disappointed. The +admiral now determined to steam ahead more rapidly, so that they might +get around the western end of the island. It was evident that there +were no insurgents along this shore, and as there were no villages of +any consequence, either, he was anxious to reach the southern shore, +where it was known the rebels had recently been gathering. The towns, +too, were very numerous here on account of the excellent fishing, and +it was hoped that some good work might be accomplished for Uncle Sam +before another week passed. + +Subsequent events soon proved the wisdom of the admiral's plan. The +cruiser, it seemed, had no sooner rounded the western point than signs +were visible of rebel activity ashore. It was one Tuesday morning that +a village was sighted, built around a narrow inlet of the sea. When +the binoculars were levelled upon this harmless-appearing settlement, +it was soon perceived by the admiral that there were soldiers in the +streets with the rebel uniform, and that the insurgent flag was flying +from the administration building in the village square. All this was +just what had been expected, and there was great rejoicing aboard the +cruiser. Every man, without exception, almost, was anxious to be one +of a party to be sent ashore to attack the rebels, but the admiral +hesitated before sending any one at all. "It is impossible to tell +from here," he said, "how numerous the rebels are, and it is quite +possible that they may have a large force of men in the village. If +the appearance of the streets is any sign, there must be quite a force +of them in the place." But every one laughed at the very idea of there +being a rebel company of any consequence in the place, and the admiral +was finally prevailed upon to send a boat ashore, armed with thirty +men. + +"Remember," he said, "if you come to grief, that I advised against +this venture. Don't be too bold, or risk too much, for though I can +shell the place, that won't help you any, once you are captives." + +But every one was anxious to be one of the party in the boat, and the +officers had a hard time making selections. "You can go, Archie, +because you're a correspondent," said the captain, "and you can go, +Mr. Hickson, because you're a brave man," and then he continued to +pick out men until the required number was secured. Of course there +were many disappointed ones left aboard the cruiser, but the captain +assured them that they might have their chance yet. + +The boat was soon off, and it was noticed that there was great +excitement ashore as soon as the departure was observed. All the +inhabitants, it seemed, were gathered upon the beach, anxiously +awaiting developments. They seemed to be absolutely ignorant of what +the presence of a war-ship in their harbour meant, and were apparently +not at all anxious as to the outcome of this visit. One of the men +told Archie that they had probably never seen a war-ship before, and +that they wouldn't know a cannon at all. "But we'll let them know the +meaning of our presence," declared the sailor, "if they shoot at us." +The boat drew every minute nearer the shore, and it was soon perceived +that there were many soldiers among the crowd on the beach. Every one +thought it remarkable that they should be so quiet, but not one of the +natives made a move until the boat was within two hundred feet of the +shore. Then one of the rebel soldiers suddenly raised his rifle and +fired at the boat. The lieutenant in command stood up in the boat and +gave the order to return the fire, and a perfect volley of shot was +poured into the crowd, which immediately scattered in every direction. +The rebel soldiers, however, seemed determined to stand their ground, +and they were so numerous, and kept up such a steady fire, that it was +deemed best to return to the cruiser, which was signalling for this +action on their part. So the boat was turned about as quickly as +possible, and the sailors pulled for the cruiser, amid the derisive +yells of the Filipinos, who had gathered again upon the beach. The +rebel soldiers continued their firing, but were such poor marksmen +that but three of their shots took effect. One sailor was shot in the +arm, another in the side, and still another was shot in the leg as he +stood up to take aim at the rebels. None of these wounds, it was +afterward discovered, were at all serious, though they were enough to +arouse the anger of the entire crew. + +When the boat reached the cruiser again, preparations were at once +begun for bombarding the town. The natives still stood upon the shore, +and it could be seen that they were immensely proud of their present +victory. It was amusing, then, to see the change in their behaviour +when the great six-inch gun of the cruiser belched forth a cloud of +fire and smoke, and a burning shell landed in the village street, +apparently just in front of the administration building, which was +soon afire. The poor natives fled in every direction, and the rebel +soldiers followed their noble example, and took to their heels, too. +Another shell followed the first, and soon several buildings were +burning in the village. The admiral watched developments carefully, +and finally he decided that they would be glad to surrender the +village if another boat was sent ashore. + +Accordingly, the same boat started out again, with three new men in +place of those who were wounded, and for sake of effect the cruiser +steamed farther in toward shore. This time there were no crowds upon +the beach, and the thirty men marched to the burning buildings, where +the natives fell before them, begging for mercy. The soldiers were +nowhere to be seen, so the crew took possession of the town and slept +there, in company with thirty more sailors, that night. + + CHAPTER XXI. + + CONTINUING THE CRUISE-- ANOTHER VILLAGE CAPTURED-- THE ADMIRAL ARCHIE'S + FRIEND-- A GREAT BATTLE AND AN UNEXPECTED VICTORY-- LONGING TO BE HOME + AGAIN. + +IT may go without saying that the sixty men from the cruiser had a +very interesting time before the night was over. The entire village +was in a constant uproar; the poor natives, horrified by what they had +witnessed during the afternoon, ran hither and thither, some even +leaving the place entirely and starting for the interior with their +goods and families. The rebel soldiers had evidently gone for good, +and a small party sent out to look for traces of them returned without +learning anything of their whereabouts. The bombardment of the village +had certainly had great effect. + +It was only a tiny place, with possibly not more than a thousand +inhabitants, but there were evidences that it had been formerly a +flourishing town. There were fine residences in some of the streets, +which were now quite deserted, and there were some very respectable +business houses in the village square. All these had once been +occupied by Spanish traders, who had been driven away when the rebels +came, and if the insurgents had never come the town might now have +been a booming place. But the rebels were lazy, as usual, and did no +work, so that now the fine residences were vacant, and the business +blocks stood empty. + +Some of the sailors looked about for a casino, where they might be +able to find entertainment of some kind for the evening, but every +place of amusement was closed, and the streets were deserted. Since +the occurrences of the afternoon all the people had locked themselves +into their houses, to await the departure of the Americans. But, even +though the casino was closed, the Yankees managed to have a good time. +They sang and danced and played the banjo until an early hour in the +morning, when they finally went to sleep, leaving only two for a night +watch, for there was no danger that the insurgents would return, after +their engagement, in which they had lost six men. + +When morning came, some officers landed from the cruiser, and all the +villagers were summoned to the public square and made to swear +allegiance to the American flag. + +In the afternoon the cruiser steamed away again on her errand of +forcible pacification, and more days of quiet watchfulness followed, +as the vessel steamed along near the shore. There were many small +villages along this coast, but all of them seemed peaceful and free of +insurgents. The captain even said that some of the people in them +probably didn't know that there had ever been a war between Spain and +the United States. Archie, who had enjoyed his experiences during the +occupation of the last village, now began to be impatient again at the +long quiet. The day when the cruiser bombarded the administration +building would be a memorable one to him, and the succeeding events +were just such as he had been longing to see for months. And then to +think that he had taken part in the occupation of the village. It was +all very wonderful, but very real, too, and for several days he took +much pains in writing an article for the paper describing the events +leading up to and including the capture of the village. And in the +narration Bill Hickson was an important character. He had again proved +himself a hero of the first water by insisting that the boat proceed +when the first attempt was made to land, and by being the first man +ashore when a landing was finally effected. He was a leader in +everything that was done. He marched at the head of the squad when +they marched through the streets of the village, calling all the +people to assemble in the public square, and be stood beside the +officers with his rifle handy when the ceremony of swearing allegiance +was gone through with. When it was all over he was called to the +admiral's cabin aboard the cruiser and congratulated for being so +brave and so ever-ready to lead in any dangerous undertaking; but Bill +Hickson simply blushed and said he hadn't done "anything worth +mentionin'." The men aboard thought differently, however, and he was +even a greater hero after this adventure than he had been before. + +Archie, too, received the congratulations of the admiral. "You have +been a brave boy," he said, "and deserve much credit for showing so +little fear in the face of danger. I hope you will be rewarded upon +your return to New York for your bravery while with us here." Archie, +too, blushed, and said that he had no doubt that Mr. Van Bunting would +treat him fairly when he reached New York again. + +And Archie was now beginning to wish that the time for his return +would soon arrive. It was the month of February, and he had been away +from America an age, it seemed to him. He felt that he had seen most +of what there was to be seen in the Philippines, and when this naval +tour was over with, the active campaigning would no doubt cease until +the rainy season was over. So for many reasons the boy wished he might +be able to start home soon, and as the days passed he became more and +more anxious to receive word from the Enterprise that he might return. +He had sent many interesting articles to the paper, and would be able +to write many more just as interesting upon his return, so he felt +that the editors wouldn't object to his early return. + +For an entire week the cruiser found no signs of the rebels, but at +last there came a day when they were steaming slowly along near the +shore, and saw, back among the trees, some specks of white resembling +tents in shape. Immediately the whole vessel was excited, and there +was much gossip and wonder as to what the tents could be doing there. +The admiral at last decided to send two boats ashore to investigate, +and gave strict orders that the men should be cautious and not allow +themselves to be ambushed or caught in a trap of any kind. Of course +Archie and Bill Hickson were among the crew of the first boat, and +each was as fully armed as any of the sailors. + +The two boats pulled quietly for the shore, keeping close together, +and they were beached at the same time. The natives, or whoever +occupied the tents, had evidently not yet discovered them, and the men +halted upon landing to decide what they had better do. The tents could +be plainly seen through the trees, and there was smoke rising from a +fire somewhere in the neighbourhood, but there were no noises which +could be heard so far away. It was decided to march up to the tents +and find out who occupied them, and the column kept close together as +they advanced, for things were so quiet it was feared the rebels, if +such they were, might be in ambush. + +The men got within a hundred feet of the camp, when they heard several +terrible yells in succession, and several natives ran out from behind +one of the tents, screaming at the top of their voices, and not +pausing to look around at all. The officer in command of the company +of men was much disturbed by this demonstration, and, without pausing +a moment, gave the order to fire. Five of the natives fell +immediately, but the other six kept running, and soon disappeared +among the trees on the other side of the clearing. The men stood still +awaiting developments, but though they waited several minutes nothing +more was heard, and it was decided that the camp must be deserted. So +they marched up to the tents, and then the officer almost fainted, for +inside the first one he entered was standing an American flag, and +scattered about were the accoutrements and camp equipment belonging to +an American force in the field. There was now no doubt but what the +tents belonged to an American regiment, and that the fleeing natives +were either servants or prisoners, more likely the former. The men +were all much excited at this discovery, and the officer ordered the +natives to be looked after at once. It was found, however, that all +but one were dead, and he expired within an hour, so that the men felt +that they had killed five innocent men, a thought which made some of +them weep, hardened though they were. + +It was now decided to await the return of the regiment, which was out, +the officer thought, on a practice march, and could not possibly be +gone much longer. So the men lounged about on the grass for more than +an hour. Then, about three in the afternoon, a rifle-shot was heard in +the near distance, and instantly every man was on his feet, rifle in +hand. "They must have found the rebels," said the officer; "so be +ready, men, to help them out, should they be retreating to the camp." +This supposition turned out to be correct, for a few minutes later +some members of the regiment came running into camp and announced that +a large body of insurgents was after them. Later the remainder of the +regiment followed, and the joy of the colonel when he found these +unexpected reinforcements was very great. "There must be more than +fifteen hundred rebels," he said, "and they will all be on us here in +less than an hour, for their sharpshooters have been following us up +for a long time. I was beginning to think that we would be unable to +fight them, for they seem to be well equipped, but with the cruiser to +kelp us we can whip them at once. The thing to do will be to let them +come on without suspecting that we have received any help, and then, +when the fight is getting a little warm, or they are about to charge +us, let the cruiser fire a few shells into the air, and it will all be +over. Most of them are country troops, and have never seen a cruiser, +so they will be too much frightened to speak when they hear the +thunder of the guns, and see the shells explode in the air. And then +they have a village about three miles back from the coast, and if you +can send a few shells into that village it will simply ruin the +insurgents. + +"I had no idea of meeting these rebels," the colonel then explained. +"I took the men out for a little practice marching, but before we had +gone far we encountered these sharpshooters, and later discovered that +they had all these men about a mile and a half away. Then we decided +to return to camp as quickly as possible, to get more ammunition, and +we felt, too, that we would stand a better chance of resisting them +here among the trees. But now we will soon finish them up, if you will +just send a man out to tell the admiral of our plans." Archie +immediately volunteered to carry the information, and as he could be +spared better than one of the soldiers or sailors, he was permitted to +undertake the mission. So he started out, and was on board the cruiser +in a very short time. The admiral was dumbfounded to learn that +American troops were encamped on the shore, and in imminent danger of +being defeated, and he at once set about giving orders with great +vigour. "We will show them how they can attack a small regiment of +Americans with their ridiculous army," he declared, and at once gave +orders for the vessel to move inshore. "But wait," he cried, a minute +later, "I see by my chart that there is a deep stream about a mile up +the coast, and if I am not mistaken we can enter this stream and +perhaps get very near the advancing rebels. We may even be able to +destroy them before they have a chance at our soldiers," and the old +admiral almost danced in the enthusiasm of this idea. So the cruiser +steamed rapidly up the coast, and was soon at the mouth of the stream, +which seemed to be the estuary of some great river. Then she steamed +up-stream, and, sure enough, the admiral soon discovered the rebels +marching rapidly along the road, about half a mile away. They had +evidently not perceived the cruiser, on account of the high reeds +growing along the banks, and the admiral gave orders to begin firing. + +The first shell rose high in the air and exploded with a deafening +thunder, and when the smoke cleared away it was seen that the +insurgents were almost paralysed with fright, and had just discovered +the cruiser in the river. But this first shell had not hurt any one, +and another was immediately ignited. This one exploded over the very +heads of the troops, and many of them must have been killed. Those who +were not either killed or wounded turned about and began to run, and +their leaders were powerless to make them stand their ground. One +shell followed another from the cruiser, and hundreds must have been +killed outright among the insurgents. Finally they were all running, +and it was soon perceived that the Americans had advanced, and were +now pursuing them with great energy. So the cruiser could fire no more +shells, and the admiral ordered her about and back to the anchorage +onshore. + +It would take many pages to describe in detail the events of the +remainder of that afternoon, as Archie witnessed them from the deck of +the cruiser, and learned of them later from Bill Hickson. The +insurgents were nearly all killed or taken prisoners, and it was found +that they numbered nearly two thousand. So it was a great achievement +to have vanquished them all. The affair turned out to have been the +greatest victory of the war, so far. + + CHAPTER XXII. + + RETURN TO HEADQUARTERS-- A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR, WITH PERMISSION TO + RETURN TO NEW YORK-- BILL HICKSON GOES, TOO. + +ARCHIE left the cruiser when she was once more at anchor, and, going +ashore to the American camp, he found things in a very lively +condition at the close of the afternoon's battle. Every man was very +jubilant over the retreat which had been turned into a great victory, +and Archie was congratulated on having been the lucky man to carry the +news of the coming of the rebels to the admiral. The officers were all +in the best of humour, except the colonel, who felt somewhat sad on +account of the death of his five faithful servants, as the men first +shot turned out to have been. + +"There were never any better men than they," said the colonel, "and I +would almost as soon my own men had been shot." But he bore the ship's +company no malice for their mistake, which he said was a very natural +one. + +After the capture of so many rebels, and the killing of so many +others, it was felt that the rebel army in this part of the island was +pretty well disbanded, and that it would soon disappear altogether. It +had been known, from the very beginning of hostilities, that there was +a large force of insurgents somewhere in this neighbourhood, but not +until to-day had the colonel seen anything of them. But it was +impossible, all the officers said, that there could be any more troops +about, for these two thousand represented a very considerable portion +of the entire rebel army. And now that these were done away with, the +colonel said there was no need of his remaining any longer in this +place, and that he would like to get back to Manila as quickly as +possible. Hearing this, the admiral said he thought room could be made +for all the men aboard the cruiser, and that they could all return at +once if they so desired. This generous offer was at once accepted by +the colonel, and the next day the work of embarkation began. By night +every man was aboard, and a place of some kind had been found where he +could sleep, but of course, every portion of the vessel was much +overcrowded. This only made things all the more lively, however, and +Archie, as well as all the others, thought he had never enjoyed any +trip so much as these three days spent in getting back again to +Manila. There was always fun of some sort going on. If some one wasn't +dancing, there was sure to be singing. And then there were several +ingenious games which were invented for the occasion, so that time +never passed slowly. Indeed, there were many who were sorry when the +capital was finally reached, but Archie was not among these, for he +expected some mail to be awaiting him from the editor of the +Enterprise. And he hoped that in this mail he would find permission to +return to New York. + +All officials were very much surprised when the cruiser anchored off +Cavité, but the admiral explained that he thought it no use to spend +more time in touring the island, even though the month which it was +supposed to take him had not yet expired. He said that he felt sure +there were no more insurgent villages along the coast, because it was +perfectly evident, from all signs, that the rebels were all in one +division. And this division, of course, had been vanquished four days +previously. + +When the report of the engagement went the rounds there was much +enthusiasm, for it was felt that at last some progress was being made +against the insurgents. The admiral was a popular hero at once, and +Archie, with Bill Hickson, was again the centre of admiration and +interest in the old palace, where they both returned. + +Archie was surprised to find no mail awaiting him, but he was not +discouraged, and wrote two long articles to send to the Enterprise. +One described the great engagement, and the other was descriptive of +the daily life aboard ship upon the return to Manila. These articles, +with the others he had written during the latter part of the cruise, +were sent off at once, and Archie felt confident that they would be +read with great interest by Mr. Van Bunting. And now the days passed +very pleasantly in Manila. He had a great deal to tell his comrades in +the old regiment, for none of them had been out of Manila since he +left, and were very anxious indeed to hear about the events of the +round-the-island tour. And Archie was very willing to tell them all he +could, for he had been much interested in the entire voyage, and never +tired of talking about it. + +Still, while things were very pleasant, and he was having a good time +in many ways, Archie was very anxious to see New York again and to get +back to America. And then, what was even more important with him, was +the knowledge that he would certainly be allowed to visit his mother +upon his return. Therefore he was a very happy boy when he one day +received two letters from the Enterprise office, one from Mr. Van +Bunting, and one from Mr. Jennings. They were both very encouraging +and very friendly. Mr. Van Bunting wrote to tell Archie how delighted +they all had been with his success in finding interesting things to +write about, and he enclosed a check for three hundred dollars, which +he thought "would come in handy now." The letter from Mr. Jennings was +of later date, and stated that he had prevailed upon Mr. Van Bunting +to allow Archie to return to New York, to work upon the Evening +Enterprise. It was a very delightful letter, Archie thought. "We +believe," wrote Mr. Jennings, "that we can use you here to very good +advantage, and we will be glad to have you return as soon as possible. +I enclose two hundred dollars to pay your expenses home again." + +So now it was all settled that Archie was to leave Manila for New +York, and, now that it was sure he was going, he felt somewhat +reluctant to leave the soldiers with whom he had become friendly, and +to get away from all this life of adventure which had been so +interesting and so delightful in many ways. It was hard, too, to leave +the dear old palace in Manila, through which he had wandered so often, +and every room of which had for him some story of a Spanish prince or +a great governor-general, wealthy and wise. There would be none of all +this at home or in New York, but then there would be something better; +there would be mother, and the old grape arbour, and the Hut Club. + +On investigation, Archie found that the quickest way to get home would +be to travel by way of Hong Kong and Yokohama, taking the steamer from +there to San Francisco. It would take him more than a month to make +the trip, and, as it was now the second week in March, he could hardly +expect to reach New York before the first of May. He at once cabled +Mr. Jennings that he would leave at once for Hong Kong, and received +an answer telling him to do so by all means, and to continue to write +letters describing his trip. Archie knew that these letters would +probably not reach New York any sooner than he would, but he did write +them, anyhow, and he did see some of them appear in the paper after +his arrival. + +Archie was overjoyed to learn one day that Bill Hickson had received +permission from the commanding general to return to the United States, +and he at once hunted up the bashful hero, and insisted that he leave +at once, and make the trip with him. This was finally agreed to, and +when it was settled that the two old chums were to travel homeward +together the whole camp in Manila was interested in the news. They +were both very popular, and almost every night before their departure +there was a pleasure party of some kind arranged for them. One night +they would give a regular "stag," as they called them, and then again +they would arrange a sort of musicale, at which there would be +clog-dancing, banjo music, and various games to increase the fun. + +The four days passed very quickly indeed, and at last the day for +sailing arrived. There was a great throng at the pier to see them off, +and there was no end of good wishes and stories of the good times now +gone by. When the steamer finally moved out into the open, there were +three cheers each for Archie and "brave Bill Hickson," in which every +man appeared to join with all his heart and voice. And there were +tears in Archie's eyes at having to part from such true friends. It +was hard to tell, too, when he would ever see any of them again. He +realised that hereafter his path and theirs would probably lie in +different directions. He was going to New York to work as a reporter, +and they, if they were not killed in battle, would be scattered in all +parts of the great United States, at the mustering out of the troops. +It was all very sad, and even Bill Hickson seemed to feel the +solemnity of the occasion, for he had nothing to say for many hours +after the vessel had started on its journey. + +Archie, too, felt homesick at having to leave, and they went to bed +very early, apparently feeling that the best thing under such +circumstances was to be asleep. And when morning came they both felt +somewhat better, for Archie arose filled with hope for the future, and +more anxious than ever to reach home. Bill Hickson, too, was not loath +to return to the United States, even though he had no relatives +waiting there to welcome him. The poor fellow had been through a great +deal while in the Philippines, and his constitution was almost wrecked +by the constant strain to which he was subjected. He had never fully +recovered from his accident of several weeks before, and he felt that +he needed a rest from the constant excitement and worry of life in the +army. He was tired, too, of being a spy. He had never relished the +work, but he had realised how necessary it was for the Americans to +have some one to follow up Aguinaldo and let the general know of his +movements. "They'll be a long time catching him now," he said, time +and again, to Archie. "He's a much shrewder man than they think, and +he knows his Philippine Islands like a book. He can go from one place +to another without the Americans ever knowing where he disappeared to, +and without some one to follow him they will never be able to learn +anything of his movements." + +Bill had received nearly two hundred dollars in back pay, so he felt +quite rich, and Archie told him that if he should happen to run out, +and need more money, he would be very glad to furnish it to him, For +Archie was now determined to take Bill Hickson to New York, and +introduce him to Mr. Van Bunting, feeling sure that the wise editor +would thank him for bringing to his attention a man at once so +interesting and so worthy as this hero of the war had proved himself +to be. But for the present Bill would discuss nothing of the kind. He +was thoroughly content to sit beside Archie on the warm steamer deck, +and watch the ever varied surface of the Indian Ocean. + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + HONG KONG-- A HAPPY TIME IN TOKIO-- HONOLULU AGAIN-- ARRIVAL IN SAN + FRANCISCO, AND A GREAT RECEPTION BY THE PRESS-- ARCHIE AND BILL ARRIVE IN + NEW YORK, AND ARE THE HEROES OF THE HOUR. + +AFTER a short and pleasant voyage they reached Hong Kong, and Archie +found this city to be much more interesting than he had expected to +find it. It was charming, he thought, to run across a place which +combined the conveniences of England and America with the picturesque +oddities of China and Japan, and he enjoyed himself to the utmost +during the two days they spent there. Bill Hickson enjoyed the place, +too, and they would both have liked to remain longer had it been +possible for them to do so, but they were anxious to see something of +Japan before sailing for San Francisco, and their steamer was due to +leave Yokohama in eleven days. + +But they did enjoy Hong Kong to the utmost while they were there. They +called first, of course, upon the American consul, whom they found to +be an exceedingly pleasant man. They learned, to their great surprise, +that he had read of Archie Dunn, and of Bill Hickson, too, in the +Enterprise, and Archie began to think that his paper had a much wider +circulation than even the editors claimed for it. He thought it very +remarkable, at first, that a man living in Hong Kong should have read +about his Philippine experiences in a New York paper, but of course, +after he thought of it awhile, it didn't seem such a very remarkable +thing, after all. And after this, when they heard of people having +read of them, they weren't so much surprised, having come to realise +the tremendous circulation of this paper. + +The consul did all in his power to make their stay in Hong Kong +pleasant. He was anxious to have a formal dinner for them, but Bill +Hickson said that he would much prefer not having to dress up, and +Archie was willing for Bill's sake to forego the honour. So they spent +their two days in going about the city, visiting the quaint Chinese +shops, and seeing everything of particular interest. They found many +wonderful things to look at, and Archie said that he couldn't imagine +any more delightful place; but Bill told him to wait until they +reached Japan, for he'd find that much more charming than Hong Kong. +"I've been there before," said Bill, "and I know what I'm talkin' +about, and I say there ain't no such place on earth as Japan for +interestin' things to look at, and pleasant things to do." And when, a +few days later, Archie was initiated into some of the mysteries of +Japanese life by his experienced friend, he was willing to admit the +truth of all he had heard concerning the land of the chrysanthemum. He +found everything quite beyond his expectations. The people themselves +were more quaint in their dress and manners than he had expected to +find them, and the houses and the pagodas were much more picturesque +than he had imagined they would be. And the whole atmosphere of the +country seemed filled with romance and history, and it wasn't at all +hard to believe that the Japanese have longer family trees than any +other nation on earth. + +They spent a few days travelling through the provincial districts of +the little kingdom, and then they reached Tokio, where Bill was +anxious to spend several days. "I know some folks here who can take us +around and show us everything that's worth seeing," he said, "and we +can spend our time to better advantage here than anywhere else I know +of." And sure enough, Bill did know some people in the capital city, +some pleasant English people, who had met the open-hearted Westerner +when he was in the city years before, and who had at once appreciated +the true nobility of his character. They were very kind to Archie,-- +so kind that the lad thought he had never before met such pleasant +people. And they were thoroughly interested in all his adventures, +from the time he left home late in the preceding summer until now. He +had to tell them all about his New York adventures, and also about +their experiences together in the Philippines, and his new friends +showed the greatest interest in all he had to say, and seemed to find +it all vastly entertaining. They were anxious, Archie thought, to make +him have a very good time in Tokio, to make up for some of his hard +experiences, and if this were indeed their object, they succeeded +admirably in accomplishing it. Every day was filled with surprises, +and every night Archie thought he had enjoyed himself more this day +than the day before. They travelled about the city so persistently, on +foot and in the quaint jinrikishas, that he felt that he knew almost +every part of Tokio, and he witnessed every side of native existence, +as well as the life in the foreign quarter. It was all charmingly new +and interesting, and, as in Hong Kong, they were both sorry when the +day for their sailing came around. And always since Archie has +declared that no one can be more kindly hospitable than the English. + +The voyage from Yokohama to San Francisco was slow and monotonous, +Archie thought, for he was now very impatient to reach the United +States, and he had also grown very tired of travel by water. There +were some very pleasant passengers, but Archie couldn't see that he +had a much better time than when he was peeling potatoes corning over. +That was interesting enough, anyhow. The only break in the monotony +was the day they were enabled to spend in Honolulu, and on that day +Archie went again to some of the places he had seen during his first +visit to the attractive city. And he called again upon some of the +friends of his first visit, and found that most of them had read of +his great success as a war correspondent, and of his many exciting +experiences in the Philippines. They were all profuse in +congratulating him upon what he had accomplished, and every one seemed +to think he had been very successful indeed. + +While they were in Honolulu a vessel arrived, bound for Japan, and +Archie was delighted to find it was the same vessel upon which he had +worked his passage from San Francisco on his way to Manila. He went +aboard and met some of the friends he had made there, and found that +they all knew now who it was they had carried as chore-boy in the +galley. They all seemed glad to hear of his success, and to know that +he was coming home as a first-class passenger. The cook treated him +with much deference, and started to apologise for his treatment of +Archie on the way over; but the boy stopped him, and told him that no +apology was necessary. "I think I may have been an unwilling worker," +he said, "because of course I didn't like the work at all, and it was +hard for me to take an interest in peeling potatoes when I was looking +forward to accomplishing such great things in the Philippines." + +"Oh," said the cook, "you was a fine worker. Sure, I ain't had so good +a boy since." And Archie laughed to see the change in opinion which is +sometimes brought about by a change in circumstances. + +Archie enjoyed the city quite as much as before, but he was glad, +nevertheless, when the steamer continued her voyage east. And then he +began to count the days until they should arrive in San Francisco, and +of course these last days seemed the longest ones of the voyage. But +they gradually passed away, and as they steamed ahead, coming nearer +every hour to that dear land called "home," both Archie and Bill began +to wonder how they would like it all, after their adventurous life in +the Philippines. Bill, in particular, was doubtful whether he would +again be able to settle down to a quiet existence in some small place, +and Archie assured him that he must live in New York, where he would +be sure to find things lively enough to suit him. + +At last came the eventful day when the great steamer threaded her way +through the beautiful Golden Gate, and discharged her passengers at +the pier. As Archie and Bill had but little baggage, they were almost +the first ones to leave the vessel, and were hurrying away to find a +hotel where they could remain overnight when Archie felt some one +touch him on the shoulder, and, turning about and seeing no one he +knew, was about to go on, when a man introduced himself as being the +San Francisco correspondent of the Enterprise. "And these gentlemen +here," said he, "are reporters from the newspapers here. They would be +glad to have you say a few words about your experiences during the +last few months." Archie was quite dumbfounded. It had never occurred +to him that he was a person so important as to be interviewed, but he +was willing and glad to accommodate the reporters, and told them to +accompany him to his hotel. Once there, he answered all their +questions, and didn't find it hard at all to give them his opinion of +the situation in the Philippines, and what he thought should be done +by the government to stop the rebellion. "The President will soon put +an end to it," he said, "if he can only have the support of Congress. +But as long as there are members of Congress fighting his policy, the +insurgents are going to continue their insane efforts to establish an +independent government." And some of the reporters smiled to hear so +young a fellow talking about the policy in the Philippines. They felt +that he was well-informed, however, and put down every word he said. + +The interviews over, Archie and Bill went early to bed. The Enterprise +correspondent had telegraphed the news of their arrival to New York, +and had received word from Mr. Van Bunting to send them on to New York +at once. So, early in the morning, the two started for the East, and +the train seemed to travel quite as slowly as the steamer. "It does +seem good to be in our own country again," they said a hundred times +during the days that followed, and when they reached the Empire State +and began their journey down the Hudson River, Archie could hardly +restrain his enthusiasm at being again in his native commonwealth. + +There was quite a delegation at the Grand Central Station to meet +them. Mr. Jennings was there in person, and he explained that Mr. Van +Bunting was waiting anxiously at the office to see him. Then there +were reporters from the various other city papers, who wanted +interviews, but Archie was told to say whatever he had to say in the +columns of the Enterprise, so he had to deny the reporters for the +first time. Bill Hickson was introduced at once, and became the lion +of the hour. Every one had read of him, and was glad to shake his +hand, and poor Bill was quite bewildered by so much attention. They +didn't linger long at the station, however, but hurried down to the +Enterprise office, where Mr. Van Bunting was awaiting them. He grasped +Archie's hand in his as they entered, and cried, "Well done, my boy, +well done." And Archie felt as if he had grown three feet that +instant. + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + DOING "SPECIAL" WORK UPON THE EVENING PAPER-- INTERVIEWS WITH FAMOUS + MEN-- CALLS UPON OLD FRIENDS. + +THERE was so much to tell Mr. Jennings and Mr. Van Bunting, that +Archie didn't get away from the Enterprise office until seven o'clock +in the evening. And what a lot they did say to each other during the +afternoon! Archie told of all his experiences, and found them all +anxious to hear about them. He learned, to his joy, that everything he +had sent had been printed, and that the articles had made a great hit +with the public. "We would have liked to keep you there longer, but we +knew you must be worn out, and then we want you to stay right here, +now, and see if you cannot get us some good interviews and articles of +various kinds for the Evening Enterprise. The paper has been losing +ground somewhat, of late, and we need some new life for its pages. Of +course the morning paper profited greatly by your articles, but the +evening edition seemed very weak in comparison, and we think it only +fair to Mr. Jennings to let him have you on his staff for awhile now. +So if you are willing, you can start in to-morrow as a member of the +staff. We will see that you are well paid for what you write, or we +will put you on salary, whichever you like. You can think it over, and +in the morning you can tell us which plan you like best." + +Archie wanted to ask for a few days' absence to return home, but he +felt, somehow, that he ought not to ask it just now. So he contented +himself with writing a long letter to his mother, in which he enclosed +a very large check, money which he had not used on his return to New +York. He told her that he would be home just as soon as he could get +off for any length of time, and he knew that she would now be looking +forward to the visit every day. She had written him about the +enthusiasm displayed by every one over his achievements, and how proud +she was of what he had accomplished. "I think I am the proudest mother +in the country," she wrote one day, and this sentence made Archie very +happy, of course, and more anxious than ever to return home. He +received a letter, too, from Jack Sullivan, telling him how much the +boys all thought of his success, and how every member of the Hut Club +had longed time and again to be with him. "It all reads just like some +book," Jack wrote, "and we are dying to have you come home and tell us +all about it." Then his mother sent him clippings from the town +papers, eulogising his efforts, and calling him the "coming man of the +State." All this was very pleasant and very encouraging, and Archie +couldn't help having a kindly feeling for the townsfolk who thought so +much of him. + +New York was as delightful as ever. It was now the last of April, and +the trees were all green with fresh leaves, and the numerous little +parks scattered over the city were looking their very best. The +asphalt pavements looked clean and elegant when Archie thought of some +other streets he had seen, and the tall office buildings lifted their +ornate domes and cupolas into a sky of clear blue. "Surely," he +thought to himself, "this is the most charming city in all the world." +Fifth Avenue, with its crowds of fashionable folk, and its throng of +vehicles, was a delight of which he never tired, and when he went into +the Bowery, just to see how things were looking now, he found it quite +as interesting and as dirty as in the fall. + +But the first place he visited was the dear little square away +down-town, where he had lived during those few happy days spent in New +York. It, too, looked the same, only the flowers and grass were +fresher now, and the fountain seemed to flow more joyously, now that +spring was here. The house where he had lodged was as clean as ever, +and Archie at once decided to engage a room here, where he could have +his New York home. So he called upon the motherly landlady, and was +glad to learn that the room he had first was still vacant, and that he +could take possession at once. + +As before, when he came to this house, Archie was almost out of +clothing, so he went out and fitted himself with everything he needed. +And this time he felt able to buy the best to be had, for he thought +he had now earned the privilege to dress well if he liked. And then, +when he had everything he needed to wear, he went out and bought many +pretty things for his room, for he felt that he would like to have it +just as cosy and home-like as possible. He wasn't able to do much at +it this first night, but in the succeeding days he furnished the place +in a charming way, so that the landlady said it was the "handsomest +room in the house, sir." The dear old lady could hardly understand +this great change in her lodger's circumstances. She worried about it +very often, and discussed the question with many of the neighbours. +"He come here last fall looking mighty poor-like, but, lawsy me, he's +as fine now as any man on the avenue." And she never did understand it +until one day she learned that her lodger was the "very young man who +had been to the war in the Philippines, and writ about his battles in +the Enterprise." + +There was no ceremony when Archie began work on the evening paper. Mr. +Jennings told him that he thought they understood each other pretty +well, and that he could use his own discretion, very often, about +getting articles. "You can be as independent as you like, Archie," he +said, "and use your own ideas as much as you like." This pleased the +boy very much indeed. He was beginning to feel now that he had really +won his spurs, and that he was a full-fledged journalist. It seemed +scarcely possible that it had taken him little more than six months to +make this great advance in circumstances, and yet he could see himself +a few months previous, sleeping in the station-house. Now his days of +poverty were surely over, and he would have a clear path ahead of him +to accomplish his great ambition to be a successful author and writer +of books. For the present, it was good experience for him to be +working upon the Enterprise, and he felt that he ought to be very much +contented, since there were men old enough to be his father who were +not earning as much money. + +He liked the work upon the evening paper very much. He didn't have to +get down early in the morning, and at three o'clock in the afternoon +he was always through. He was very glad indeed that there was no night +work, for he now spent his evenings in studying shorthand, which he +thought might be helpful to him in many ways. He didn't have much +routine work to do upon the paper in the beginning, but he told Mr. +Jennings that he would like to get as much experience as possible, so +the good editor gave him a lot of regular reporting to do, as well as +the special work which was daily featured in the paper. This special +work consisted of interviews with various successful men. Archie had +always felt a great admiration for men who had "done something," and +as New York was simply filled with wealthy and successful men, who had +started as poor boys, he found a wide field for work. He found it very +interesting to meet these men of affairs, and have them tell him of +their early struggles, how they had begun on the farm or in the +factory, and had worked themselves up through industry and +perseverance to the high places they now occupied. He found it very +easy to get access to most of them, for they had all read of his +experiences in the Enterprise, and Archie found that his fame as the +"Boy Reporter" was quite general and widespread. Some of the great men +were quite as much determined to interview him as he was anxious to +interview them, so that he usually got along very well by telling them +first of his own experiences, and then asking them about their own +boyhood days. It was work that never became monotonous, for each day +he saw a man quite different in most respects from the man he had +interviewed the day before, and of course every one had something +different to say. + +These interviews proved very successful when published in the Evening +Enterprise, and Mr. Jennings had him continue them during all the +weeks Archie was connected with the paper. And of course he did other +things, too, work which took him into every part of the great city, +looking up this event, or investigating this reported disappearance or +murder. Archie was quite successful in this line, too, and, as he was +being paid by the column, his weekly income was something larger than +he had ever dared to hope for in all his life. He was now enabled to +study his stenography at the best school, and to indulge himself in +many things which had been denied him before. He could, for instance, +attend the performances of grand opera, and hear the great musical +artists of the world. He was able, too, to read the best literature, +and he gradually learned to appreciate all the many good things in +life. He was very glad to find himself broadening in such a way, for +he realised that he would not always want to be a "Boy Reporter," and +that he had better be developing his mind in every possible way. + +He had not been back long in New York before he met all his old +friends. One of the first upon whom he called was the good policeman +who had been so very kind to him when he had no place to sleep. The +large-hearted man was as enthusiastic over his success as if he had +been his own son, and Archie felt that here was one true friend upon +whom he could always depend. The policeman never tired of telling +about that first night when he found Archie walking up and down +Broadway, and he always spoke of him to the other officers as "that +boy of mine." So the boy, who was now a full-fledged reporter, spent +as much time with this friend as possible, and many a time he sat at +the station-house telling them all of his adventures in the Orient. + +Another friend whom he met was the great railway president with whom +he had travelled to Chicago on his way to San Francisco. Archie had +liked this man from the very first, and he felt that in him he would +always find a friend, because he had shown such interest in his first +undertaking. And when he called upon him in his elegant office, he +received a very cordial greeting. + +"No, indeed," said the great man of affairs, "I have never forgotten +our trip West together, and I have followed you with much interest +through the columns of the Enterprise. And I am glad that you are back +again in New York, for I hope to see a great deal of you. You must +come up to my house some evening and tell us all about yourself." + +Archie was naturally much surprised to receive an invitation of this +kind, but he resolved to accept it, nevertheless. + +Bill Hickson was now employed in the Brooklyn navy yard. He had been +featured for several days in the Enterprise, and had enjoyed the +excitement of New York for awhile, but he decided he would like to be +at work. So one day Archie learned that he was working at the navy +yard. + +"I've got to be with Uncle Sam," was all the reason Bill would give +for his action. + + CHAPTER XXV. + + PRIVATE SECRETARY TO A MILLIONAIRE-- STUDYING AT EVENING SCHOOL-- LIVING + AMID ELEGANT SURROUNDINGS. + +IT was now September. Archie had been in New York the whole summer +through, attending carefully to his work on the Evening Enterprise, +and continuing his study of stenography. He had taken occasional trips +to Long Branch and Asbury Park on Saturday afternoons, but every other +day he spent in working up ideas for the paper, and each evening he +devoted to the shorthand school. By this time, though, he felt that he +knew all that was necessary of shorthand, and found himself more free +to go about in the evenings. He visited his friends more frequently, +and sometimes spent whole evenings in studying works on English +literature, for he was ambitious to know more of the great work he had +decided to make his own. This study was not really work to him, for +his interest in everything connected with literature was so great that +he found a pleasure in reading even the most classical books on the +subject, and of course so much reading of this sort did a great deal +to educate his mind along this line of work. + +One evening in the early fall, Archie decided to accept the invitation +of Mr. Depaw, the railway president, to call. So he carefully dressed +himself in the best he had, and walked up Fifth Avenue and into the +side street where the great man had his home. He rang the bell and +presented his card, and waited in the drawing-room for an answer. The +footman was gone but a moment, and returning, announced that the +family would be down directly. Archie was very much pleased that he +was to meet the entire family, and looked about him with great +interest at the elegant furnishings of the room in which he sat. He +couldn't help thinking how lovely it must be to have so many books, so +many pictures, and so many works of art of every kind. The boy thought +then that he would like to be a wealthy man, just to be able to +gratify his desires for beautiful things. + +He had to wait only a short time before the genial Mr. Depaw entered +the room, accompanied by several members of the family. Archie was +greeted very warmly, and introduced to every one, and then they +immediately began an animated conversation, in which Archie soon found +himself taking an active part, much to his surprise. He felt that he +had never before realised what a great gift it is to be able to talk +entertainingly, and this evening was a revelation to him in the ways +of good society. He found that every one was much interested in the +story of his adventures, and he talked more about them than for a long +time past. He was now beginning to feel that his Philippine +experiences were an old story, but he learned that they were quite as +entertaining as ever to these people. But they did not talk entirely +about Archie. They realised that this would be embarrassing to him, +and they were careful to guide the conversation into a discussion of +music and literature, and whatever else they imagined him to like. And +so it was that the evening passed very quickly, and it was time to +leave before he knew it. Then he was asked to be sure to call again, +and Mr. Depaw, as he accompanied him to the door, requested him to +call at his office on the following Wednesday, if possible. Archie +promised, and walked home down the avenue, wondering what it could be +that Mr. Depaw wanted to talk to him about. He didn't worry long about +it, however, but went home and to bed as quickly as possible, for he +had formed a habit of rising at six o'clock in the morning to study. + +The days passed quickly until Wednesday, and the afternoon of that day +found Archie in the waiting-room of Mr. Depaw's office. He had not +long to sit there after sending in his card, for the busy man received +him as soon as he could get rid of his present visitor. He shook +Archie warmly by the hand as he entered, and then, pulling two chairs +together, they sat down. "I have been thinking for some time," said +Mr. Depaw, "that I need a sort of private secretary. Of course I have +men here at the office who take dictation from me, and who fulfil the +duties of a secretary to a certain extent, but I want a young man who +can attend somewhat to my personal affairs; I want one whom I can +trust, and one who is likely to grow as he works along, so that +eventually he may be able to fill any place I may have open for him." +Then he stopped a moment, and Archie felt his heart beating very fast +beneath his coat. He waited almost breathlessly to hear what Mr. Depaw +would say next. + +"Ever since I met you first," he at last went on, "I have somehow +thought that you are the kind of a young fellow I would like. You are +ambitious, you are persevering, and you are willing to learn. You say, +too, that you know shorthand, and I know that you are a good penman. +You have seen quite a little of the world, I am sure, and I think you +can prove yourself equal to almost any occasion. The only question is +whether you will care to give up reporting for a position of this +kind. I can assure you that I will pay you as much as you are earning +now, and I shall be glad to offer you a home at my house, because I +shall want you at my right hand all the time. Do you think you will +care to take the place?" + +Archie could hardly speak, it was all so wonderful, but finally he +recovered himself sufficiently to explain his hesitancy in accepting +the position. "I would like just one day," he said, "to consult with +my friends on the newspaper. You see Mr. Jennings and Mr. Van Bunting +have been very good to me, and I shouldn't care to leave them now if +they object very strongly." + +"That's quite right, quite right," said Mr. Depaw. "I can appreciate +your feelings, and you can tell the editor that you will have some +time for writing, and that you will contribute occasional articles to +his paper." Archie was now delighted. "Oh, thank you," he cried. "I am +sure I can come now." + +"Well, come in at this time to-morrow," said Mr. Depaw, "and let me +know what you have decided to do." + +Archie hurried at once to Mr. Jennings's office to tell him the good +news. He wondered how his friend would take it, but all his fears were +soon put at rest. "Archie," said Mr. Jennings, "this is the best +opportunity you can ever have to improve yourself in every way. Mr. +Depaw is a man highly respected all over the country, and a man who is +known to be extraordinary in many ways. Association with such a man +will do more for you than four years in college, and you will make a +mistake if you do not accept his offer. Of course we shall all be +sorry to lose you here, but, as Mr. Depaw says, you will have some +time for writing, and we hope you will always continue to do some work +for us." + +Archie could almost have thrown his arms about Mr. Jennings's neck to +hug him for his splendid feeling, and when, a little later, Mr. Van +Bunting said practically the same thing, he felt that he had never +known two such men. He assured them both that he would never forget +them, but would try and spend as much time as possible in the +Enterprise office. + +The next day he called again on Mr. Depaw, and told him of his +decision to accept the place, and the good man seemed overjoyed. "I +will see that you never forget it, Archie," he said. It was arranged +for him to begin work the very next day. "You can transfer your things +to my house as soon as you like, for your room is waiting for you, and +I will begin to-morrow to teach you how to do things." + +And now Archie found it hard to leave the dear little room in the +quaint old square, which was looking now just as when he saw it first. +The leaves in the trees were turning brown and gold, and Archie +realised that he had been away from home more than a year. "Oh, I must +go back soon," he said to himself, "or I shall simply die of +homesickness." + +In a couple of days he was installed as a member of the Depaw +household, and he soon felt at home there. Every one was very kind to +him, he was given a handsome room, and everything seemed almost +perfect. One of the best things about it all was that he had access to +the fine library, and he longed for the long winter evenings when he +could devour the many interesting books he saw there. He was soon +initiated into his work, and it was much easier than he had expected. +Mr. Depaw, of course, started him very gradually, so that he learned +as he went along. Every morning at eight o'clock he was in the library +with Mr. Depaw, taking dictation, and receiving instructions for the +day. They remained together here until ten o'clock, when Mr. Depaw +either walked or drove to his office. Archie always accompanied him, +and took charge of some of the mail there, attending to it during the +morning. Then at noon he returned to the house, where he spent the +afternoon in writing the letters which had been dictated in the +morning, and in doing various things for Mr. Depaw. The evenings he +always had to himself, and he had no difficulty in finding enough to +do at home without going out. He almost invariably passed the evenings +in reading, but occasionally he was asked to accompany the family to +some musical event at the opera house, for they had soon learned of +his love for music. + +In work and study the winter passed quickly and happily for Archie, +who now felt quite at ease amid his elegant surroundings. His only +wish was that he might go home, and as spring approached Mr. Depaw +promised him that he should have a short vacation. The suggestion of +Mr. Depaw that Archie's mother come to New York for a week was +heartily accepted by Archie, but when he wrote home Mrs. Dunn replied +that she would rather wait for Archie at home. She had never visited +New York, and felt that she wouldn't like it. + +Bill Hickson came over very often from the navy yard, and was always a +welcome visitor at Mr. Depaw's office. He didn't seem to care for his +work in Brooklyn, however, and Archie finally requested a place for +him about the elegant new station which the road had just constructed +in the city. Mr. Depaw very readily gave him an excellent position, +one which he could keep always if he so desired. And Bill was highly +pleased with his new work, so much so that he surprised them all one +day in the spring by leading into the once a young lady whom he +introduced as his wife. Of course Archie was very much pleased at this +new development, for he had often thought that his friend must be very +lonely, living in a boarding-house. + +The days were all busy ones for Archie now. He had learned the work so +thoroughly that he was given more than ever to do, and he still +continued to write, too, for the Enterprise. He worked too hard, +however, and in April he looked so thin that Mr. Depaw sent him home +for a week's rest. + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + DECIDES TO VISIT HOME-- A GREAT RECEPTION IN THE TOWN-- A PUBLIC + CHARACTER NOW-- DINNER TO THE HUT CLUB-- DEMONSTRATION AT THE TOWN HALL-- + A TELEGRAM FROM HIS EMPLOYER LEAVING FOR EUROPE. + +IT was a beautiful April day. There had been a light shower in the +morning, and now everything looked as fresh and green as possible all +along the railway. Archie lay back in his comfortable Wagner seat, +admiring the beauties of spring, and thinking, too, of the days he +spent in walking along this very road. It seemed hard to believe that +he was now secretary to the president of this railroad, and that he +was returning home, after a year and a half, a very successful young +man. He had much to think of in the hours it would take him to reach +the little town. He tried to remember everything about the place, and +his mother as he saw her last, and it wasn't at all difficult for him +to do so. But, oh, how he hoped that things had not changed! He almost +dreaded going home for fear he would find things different. + +He had changed, that much was sure. He knew that he had grown to look +much older than his years, and he knew that he was not looking +particularly strong. He used to be so sturdy, and he had such a +splendid colour in his cheeks. Mother would be sorry to see him now, +but of course he would be sure to improve very much during the week he +was to remain among old friends. + +He was very anxious to see his boy friends, the members of the Hut +Club, and the boys and girls who were in his class at school. He had +telegraphed his mother that he was coming, so she would probably tell +the boys about it. He was sure they would be there. + +Now the stations looked more familiar. This one just passed was near +the Tinch farm, and Archie remembered the days he spent working for +old Hiram, and how he had suffered. He wondered if the farmer had ever +seen any copies of the Enterprise. It would be very interesting to him +to know that his chore-boy was now a secretary to a millionaire. This +next station he remembered very well indeed, because he used to come +here every fall to visit the county fair, where he marvelled at the +wonderful things he saw in the side-shows. + +And now the train was entering the limits of his own town. Here was +the old elevator, and the machine shop near the railway track. And, +oh, there was his own home, looking green and pleasant as the train +sped by. It almost brought tears to Archie's eyes to think that he was +so soon to see his mother. Now they had reached the station, and he +stood upon the car platform ready to alight. My, what a crowd there +was! and why did they cheer as he made his appearance? All at once it +dawned upon him that all these people were here to meet him, and to +bid him welcome home. He could hardly speak as he found himself in his +mother's arms, and then he began to shake the hands of the big crowd. +They were all old friends, and then there was the mayor, and the +superintendent of schools, and quite a delegation of leading citizens. +How nice it was of them to welcome him in this way! + +After awhile the handshaking was over, and the mayor was able to get a +few minutes with Archie. "We are all very proud of what you have +accomplished," he said, "and we want to give you a public reception +to-morrow night in the town hall, if you don't object." Archie stared +blankly at the mayor, and it was several moments before he realised +the meaning of the words. Then he was almost overcome. It was almost +too good to be true, it seemed, but he warmly thanked the mayor, and +told him how he appreciated the honour which they had done him. He +said that he would be glad to attend the reception. + +The crowd was scattering now, and Archie, wild to reach home, took his +mother to a carriage, in which they drove rapidly out to the little +house among the trees and arbours. The old town looked beautiful in +every way. The great maple and oak trees along the road were green +with new leaves, and every dooryard was bright with snowballs and +yellow roses. "This is the very best time of the year," he said to his +mother, "and I am the very happiest boy in all the world." + +"And I am the happiest mother," was the answer. Then they sat in +silence until they reached the old home. They entered by the kitchen +door, and, once inside, and seated in the old cane rocking-chair, +Archie bowed his head in tears of joy at being home with mother once +again. + +The hours which followed were sweet with joy. Mrs. Dunn busied herself +in preparing the supper, and Archie hung around the kitchen, telling +some of the many things he had planned to tell. Mrs. Dunn was smiling, +and Archie thought her the sweetest mother any boy could have. She was +changed somewhat, but she looked very young to-day. + +Supper over, Archie went over the fence to see the Sullivan boys, and +he found them looking much the same. He was truly glad to see them, +and they, of course, were glad to see him, too, though at first they +were just a little bashful, remembering, no doubt, all the things +which had happened to Archie since they saw him last. The boys were +soon telling all about the Hut Club, though, and Archie learned to his +joy that it was still a flourishing organisation. "We spoke of you +every time we were together," said Jack, "and we always wished you +were back again." Archie was delighted to hear that he had been +missed, and all at once an idea came to him which he put into +execution three days later. He determined to give an elegant dinner to +this club of boys, and the very next day he sent to New York for a +caterer to arrange it. He wanted it to be something finer than any of +the boys had ever seen, and it certainly turned out to be so. The +caterer did his best, and when, three days later, the Hut Club sat +down together for the first time in more than eighteen months, they +partook of a dinner which would have done credit to Mr. Depaw's table. +It was a memorable night for them all, and every boy enjoyed himself. + +Archie enjoyed this Hut Club dinner more than anything else while he +was at home, though of course the great event of his stay was the +public reception at the Town Hall on the second evening after his +arrival. This was a truly grand affair. The town authorities hired a +brass band, which played inside the hall and out, and there was such a +crowd in attendance that many were turned away from the doors. It was +a night that Archie will never be able to forget. He sat on the +platform, in company with the mayor and other town officials, and he +listened to several speeches congratulating him on what he had +accomplished since leaving the town. Then he had to get up and tell +them all of his experiences, from the time he left until now. He told +it in a simple manner, but from the close attention he received it was +evident his audience was deeply interested. When he had finished, +there were calls for "three cheers for Archie Dunn," and they were +given with a will. Then Archie, rising from his seat, called for +"three cheers for the President of the United States," and they, too, +were given, for Archie had told them all his feelings on the subject +of the President's policy in the war. After this there were three +cheers for Mr. Depaw, whom one man said would be the next United +States Senator from the State. The meeting closed with some cheers for +the New York Enterprise, and then followed a long siege of handshaking +for Archie, who stood beside his mother on the floor in front of the +platform. It was a happy night for them both, and Mrs. Dunn said +afterward that she could never wish for anything more the rest of her +life. + +The fourth day of his visit was a Sunday, and, to Archie's joy, brave +Bill Hickson and his wife came up from the city to spend the day. What +a jolly time they had, all day long! They went to church in the +morning, where they saw all the people, it seemed, whom they hadn't +seen before, and in the afternoon there were many callers at the +little house. The evening was spent quietly by the happy four, talking +of old times and plans for the future. The town authorities were +anxious to give Bill Hickson a reception while he was in town, but the +bashful hero declined the honour, and returned with his wife to New +York by the midnight train. + +During the two succeeding days Archie talked a great deal with his +mother, and finally gained her consent to come to New York to live in +a year's time. Mrs. Dunn had never really understood that Archie had +so good a position, but now that she realised what a splendid +beginning he had made, she was very willing to come and keep house for +him. This question settled, everything seemed wholly delightful in the +cosy home, and Archie settled down to enjoy the two remaining days of +his visit in quiet rest. He had already much improved during his stay, +and was sure of going back to the city feeling much better than for a +long time past, and this made Mrs. Dunn very happy. + +But Archie didn't stay his week out at home. On the fifth night he +attended a reception in his honour at one of the neighbours' houses, +and he was just in the midst of a description of Tokio when a +messenger boy entered with a telegram for him. He opened it at once, +and read it aloud to the company: + +"Dear Archie," it said, "return as soon as possible. I sail for Europe +on Saturday's steamer to remain six months, and wish you to accompany +me." It was signed by Mr. Depaw, and there was great applause from the +crowd when he finished reading it. But Archie's face was a study. He +wasn't sure whether he wanted to go to Europe or not, but of course +there was no question about what he should do. He at once telegraphed +a reply, saying that he would reach the city to-morrow at noon, +leaving home on the early morning train. + +Of course the reception soon broke up, and Archie walked quietly home +with his mother, who was saddened at the prospect of losing him so +soon again. She soon brightened, however, and began to plan things for +him to do abroad, and soon she entered into the preparation for his +departure with all her heart. But Archie was not so soon made glad, +and he didn't rest until he made his mother promise to accompany him +to the city on the morrow to spend the two days previous to his +departure in helping him get ready. Mrs. Dunn wasn't anxious to make +the trip, but for Archie's sake she consented. + +And early the next morning they left for the city, where the time +passed rapidly until the hour of the steamer's sailing. At the pier +they said good-bye. Archie could hardly speak, but Mrs. Dunn was +brave. "Archie," she said, "God has been with you so far and he will +keep you yet. And remember that a boy with honest ambition will always +get along. You are sure to have friends about you always, for you have +proved that you possess energy, perseverance and a good heart." She +said good-bye without a tear, but as the steamer left the pier Archie +saw, on looking back, a sweet mother seated on a coil of rope, with +her handkerchief to her eyes. + + THE END. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY REPORTER *** + +This file should be named aboyr10.txt or aboyr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, aboyr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, aboyr10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04 + +Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + |