se. Take the books--compliments of the house!"

"No!" Johnnie was aghast. He was used to paying for what he got--his
food, his bed, his rent. "Oh, gee! I want to pay, Mister. I want 'em to
be all mine.--But is there any change comin' back t' me?"

Once more he heard laughter--from behind the pile of books nearest him;
then that woman's voice again: "Oh, the darling! The darling!" Even as
she spoke, she moved into sight.

Johnnie had heard ladies speak about him in just that way before. He
knew that if they came near to him it was to lay hands on his yellow
mop. He wanted none of that sort of thing here, in this glorious house
full of books, before all these men.

"Your books came out just a dollar even," replied the red-headed man.

"Thank y', Mister!" Johnnie, his new purchases clasped tight, sidled
quickly toward the street.

"Sha'n't I wrap 'em up for you?" called the other.

Johnnie was already revolving in his quarter-section of the remarkable
door. He shook his head. Going sidewise, he could see that quite a few
of those inside were still watching him. He flashed at them one of his
radiant smiles. Then the door disgorged him upon a step, the great
Avenue received him, and he trotted off, dropping his books into his
shirt, one by one, as he went, precisely as Aladdin had stuffed his
clothes with amethysts, sapphires and rubies.

Before he reached the next block he was fairly belted with books; he was
armored with them, and looked as if he were wearing a life preserver
under his folds and pleats.

The sun was still high, the air warm enough for him--if not for a
fur-collared millionaire. And Johnnie did not feel too hungry. His one
wish was to absorb those five books. He began to keep an eye out for a
vacant building.

"My goodness!" he exclaimed. "Think of me runnin' into the place where
all the books come from!"

CHAPTER IX

ONE-EYE

HE left the Avenue, turning east. Now all plans concerning Broadway were
given up; also, he felt no anxiety about getting lost. For he went at
random.

Yet he was businesslike, and walked rapidly. No window, however
beautiful, lured him to pause. He did not waste a single minute. And
soon he was gazing up at a really imposing and colossal structure which,
big as it looked (for it seemed to occupy a whole block), was plainly
not in use. At one corner the building mounted to a peak. On going all
the way around it, he discovered smaller peaks at each of the othe