ger climbed back into his buggy and took up the lines again
with a preoccupied headshake.

"Now, I promised Lettie," he muttered, "that I'd find out all about that
boy--and maybe bring him home with me. Funny that man gave his such
a bad character. Wish I could have seen the lad's face the other
night--that would have told the story.

"Well," and he dismissed the matter with a sigh, for he was busy man,
"if he's got my card, and he is out of a job, perhaps he'll look me up.
Then we'll see."

CHAPTER VI. THIS DIDN'T GET BY HIRAM

"I've sure got plenty of time now to look for a job," observed Hiram
Strong when he was two blocks away from Dwight's Emporium. "But I
declare I don't know where to begin."

For his experience in talking with the farmers around the market had
rather dashed Hiram's hope of getting a place in the country at once. It
was too early in the season. Nor did it look so much like Spring as it
had a week ago. Already Hiram had to turn up the collar of his rough
coat, and a few flakes of snow were settling on his shoulders as he
walked.

"It's winter yet," he mused. "If I can't get something to do in the
city for a few weeks to tide me over, I'm afraid I shall have to find a
cheaper place to board than at Mother Atterson's."

After half an hour of strolling from street to street, however, Hiram
decided that there was nothing in that game. He must break in somewhere,
so he turned into the very next warehouse.

"Want a job? I'll be looking for one myself pretty soon, if business
isn't better," was the answer he got from the first man he approached.

But Hiram kept at it, and got short answers and long answers, pleasant
ones and some that were not so pleasant; but all could be summed up in
the single monosyllable:

"No!"

"I certainly am a failure here in town," Hiram thought, as he walked
through the snow-blown streets. "How foolish I was ever to have come
away from the country.

"A fellow ought to stick to the job he is fitted for--and that's sure.
But I didn't know. I thought there would be forty chances in town to one
in the country.

"And there doesn't seem to be a single chance right now. Why, I'll have
to leave Mrs. Atterson's, if I can't find a job before next week is out!

"This mean old town is over-crowded with fellows like me looking for
work. And when it comes to office positions, I haven't a high-school
diploma, nor am I fitted for that kind of a job.

"I want to be out o