e where his touch gave him the most
acute pain.

"Broken!" he said to himself. "My boy, where's your home?"

"I haven't got any right home," answered Tony, more faintly than before.
He felt a strange numbness creeping over him, and his lips were too
parched and his tongue too heavy for speaking. The gentleman took off his
own great-coat and wrapped it well about him, placing him at the same
time in a more comfortable position. Then he ran quickly to the nearest
street, hailed the first cab, and drove back to where Tony was lying.

[Illustration: TONY'S ACCIDENT.]

CHAPTER XIV.

IN HOSPITAL.

The pain Tony was suffering kept him partially conscious of what was
happening to him. He knew that he was carried gently into a large hall,
and that two or three persons came to look at him, to whom his new friend
spoke in eager and rapid tones.

"I know you do not take in accidents," he said; "but what could I do
with the little fellow? He told me he had no home, and that was all he
could say. You have two or three cots empty; and I'll double my
subscription if it's necessary, rather than take him away. Come, doctor,
you'll admit my patient?"

"I don't think I could send him away, Mr. Ross," answered another hearty
voice. "We must get him into bed as soon as possible."

Tony felt himself carried up stairs into a large room, where there were a
number of small beds, with a pale little face lying on every pillow.
There was a vacant cot at the end, and he was laid upon it, after having
his tattered clothes taken off him. His new boots were gone altogether,
having been left behind on the steps of the warehouse. His hands and
knees, bruised with crawling along the frosty stones, were gently bathed
with a soft sponge and warm water. He was surrounded by kind faces,
looking pitifully down upon him, and the gentleman who had brought him
there spoke to him in a very pleasant and cheering voice.

"My boy," he said, "you have broken your leg in your fall; but the doctor
here, who is a great friend of mine, is going to mend it for you. It will
give you a good deal of pain for a few minutes; but you'll bear it like a
man, I know."

"Yes," murmured Tony; "but will you let me go as soon as it's done?"

"You could not do that," answered Mr. Ross, smiling. "It will be some
weeks before you will be well enough to go; but you will be very happy
here, I promise you."

"Oh! but I must go!" cried Tony, starting up, but falling ba