p an awful row and rushed out. He might have
dreamed it."

"Me want to go home!" whined Nellie.

"All right--I'll take you," spoke the boy. "I can walk fine now. Thank
you very much," and he pulled on his shoe, gingerly enough, for the cut
was no small one. Then, shouldering his pack, and taking hold of Nellie's
hand--one having been refilled with chocolates by Grace--the boy peddler
moved off down the road limping, the girls calling out good-bys to him.

"I hope it's all right--to let that child go off with him," said Mollie.

"Of course it is," declared Betty. "That boy had the nicest, cleanest
face I've ever seen. And he must suffer from that cut."

"Oh, I think it will be all right," said Amy. "You could trust that boy."

"I agree with you," remarked Grace. "Fancy him seeing the man lose the
five hundred dollar bill we found!" she added.

"Do you think it's the same one?" asked Betty.

"I'm sure of it," said Mollie.

"I guess I am too," admitted the Little Captain. "He was the tramp. Now I
will know what to do."

"What?" chorused her chums.

"Let the railroad company know about it. They must have had some
inquiries. I never thought of that before. Look, he is waving to us."

"And little Nellie, too," added Grace. The boy and the little lost girl
had reached a turn in the road. They looked back to send a voiceless
farewell, the child holding trustingly to the boy's hand.

"Come on!" exclaimed Mollie, as the two passed from sight. "We'll hardly
get to my aunt's in time for supper."

And they hastened on.

Somewhat to their relief they learned, on reaching the home of Mrs.
Mulford, in Flatbush--Mrs. Mulford being Mollie's aunt--that the boy
peddler was quite a well-known and much-liked local character. He was
thoroughly honest, and could be trusted implicitly. Some time later the
girls learned from Mollie's aunt that the little lost tot had reached
home safely, and that the boy had to remain at her house for a week to
recover from the cut on his foot.

The mother of the lost child took quite an interest in Jimmie Martin, the
boy peddler, and looked after him, so the news came to Mrs. Mulford, who
had friends acquainted with the parents of the child who insisted she had
"two muvvers."

So that little incident ended happily, and once more the outdoor girls
were left to pursue their way as they had started out. They stayed a day
with Mollie's aunt, a rain preventing comfortable progress, and when it
c