st no time in purchasing a ticket, and spent
the rest of the time in eating some of the lunch he had brought along.
With over twenty-three dollars still in his pocket he felt rich, and
bought some peanuts and a cake of sweet chocolate.

When the train came along there were scarcely any passengers aboard, so
he had little difficulty in getting the seat he wanted. He sat down by a
window, with his bundle beside him, and gave himself up to thinking and
to looking at the scenery as it whirled past.

Nat had traveled but little on the cars, so the ride to Cleveland was
intensely enjoyable. The different places passed were so interesting
that he soon forgot to think about his prospects, or of what he was to
do when he arrived at the city on the lake.

"Next stop is Cleveland!" cried the conductor, standing at the open
doorway. "All change, for trains east and west!"

A moment later the train rolled into the smoky station, and bundle in
hand, Nat left the car and stepped onto the platform. From there he
walked to the street, where he gazed in some bewilderment at the crowds
of people and the swiftly moving street cars.

"Paper!" cried a newsboy. "Morning paper?"

"No, I don't want any paper," answered Nat.

"All about the big fire in Chicago, boss. Take a paper?"

"Yes, I'll take one," said Nat, and passed over the necessary change.
Off darted the newsboy, to be lost in the crowd on the other side of the
street. Nat gazed at the paper, to find that a tenement had burned out
in Chicago, with the loss of one life.

"That's not such a terrible thing--for a big city like Chicago," he
mused, and then noticed that the newspaper was two days old.

"That boy stuck me!" he muttered, and a cloud crossed his face. "I
wonder where he is?"

The boy could not be found, and in a moment Nat concluded it would be a
waste of time to look for him.

"He caught me for a greeny, true enough," he thought. "I've got to keep
my eyes open after this."

From one street Nat passed to another, gazing into the shop windows,
and wondering what he had best do next. He had at first calculated to go
to New York without delay, but now thought it would do no harm to remain
in Cleveland a day or two.

"Perhaps I'll never get here again," he reasoned. "And I might as well
see all there is to see."

Noon found him on one of the main streets. He was now hungry again, and
coming to a modest-looking restaurant, he entered and sat down at a side
tabl