man?"

"No, the rascal gave me the slip. So you got more than your money, eh?"

"I got five dollars more. But he has my pocketknife and a silver temperance
badge. He can have his money when he gives me my things back."

"I reckon you'll have to call it square," laughed the policeman. "He was a
slick one."

"He was, sir."

"You are a stranger in the city, I take it," went on the policeman, with a
glance at Ralph's country clothes.

"Yes."

"You want to have your eyes open in the future, or you'll be robbed again
before long.

"If you sleep in a room with others, pin your money fast inside of your
shirt. Then they can't get it without waking you up."

"Thank you, I'll remember that."

"I shall watch out for that sharper, and nab him the first chance I get."

"That's right; he ought to be arrested."

"The trouble will be that there will be no one to make a complaint," went
on the policeman.

"I'll make a complaint if I am still in the city," said Ralph.

"But where will I find you?"

"Ask for me at Mr. Kelsey's office in this building."

"Oh! All right," said the guardian of the peace, and then he and the boy
separated.

In a minute more Ralph was back in the offices upstairs.

"Sorry, but Mr. Kelsey has not returned," said the clerk. "Better come in
to-morrow about ten o'clock."

"Thank you, I will," replied Ralph.

He went downstairs much disappointed.

"I'll have to find some sort of a sleeping-place for to-night," he thought.
"And it must be a cheap one, for if Mr. Kelsey doesn't come back in a day
or two I will have to go home without seeing him, and I want to save the
carfare to do it. No more riding in empty freight cars for me!" and he
laughed to himself, as he remembered his experience in that line.

Ralph had often heard of the Battery, as the lower end of the city is
called, and he determined to pay it a brief visit before nightfall should
set in.

From a passer-by he learned that Broadway ran directly down there, and on
he walked against the great tide of humanity which was now setting in
toward up-town.

It was not long before he reached the little park back of Castle Garden and
the emigrant offices, and here he sat down on a bench to take a look at the
bay, and also at the various types of people that were moving about in all
directions.

It was dark when Ralph moved off. During his stay he had heard two young
men speak of the Bowery, and the many odd sights to be seen there,