to gaze with pity and dismay upon the ragamuffin before him.
He was a handsome boy, too, notwithstanding the deplorable state of his
wardrobe. Thick, clustering curls of jet-black hair fell in tangled
disorder around a forehead broad, white and smooth as that of a girl;
slender and quaintly arched black eyebrows played above a pair of
mischievous, dark-gray eyes that sparkled beneath the shade of long,
thick, black lashes; a little turned-up nose, and red, pouting lips
completed the character of a countenance full of fun, frolic, spirit and
courage.

"Well, governor, if you've looked long enough, maybe you'll take me into
service," said the lad, winking to a group of his fellow-newsboys that
had gathered at the corner.

"Dear! dear! dear! he looks as if he had never in his life seen soap and
water or a suit of whole clothes!" ejaculated the old gentleman, adding,
kindly: "Yes, I reckon I will give you the job, my son!"

"His son! Oh, crikey! do you hear that, fellows? His son? Oh, Lor'! my
governor's turned up at last. I'm his son! oh, gemini! But what did I
tell you! I always had a sort of impression that I must have had a
father in some former period of my life; and, behold, here he is! Who
knows but I might have had a mother also? But that isn't likely. Still,
I'll ask him. How's the old woman, sir?" said the newsboy, jumping off
the boxes and taking the carpet-bag in his hand.

"What are you talking about, you infatuated tatterdemalion? Come along!
If it weren't for pity I'd have you put in the pillory!" exclaimed Old
Hurricane, shaking his cane at the offender.

"Thanky, sir! I've not had a pillow under my head for a long time."

"Silence, ragamuffin!"

"Just so, sir! 'a dumb devil is better than a talking one!'" answered
the lad, demurely following his employer.

They went on some distance, Old Hurricane diligently reading the names
of the streets at the corners. Presently he stopped again, bewildered,
and after gazing around himself for a few minutes, said:

"Boy!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Do you know such a place as Rag Alley in Manillo Street?"

"Rag Alley, sir?"

"Yes; a sort of narrow, dark, musty place, with a row of old,
tumble-down tenements each side, where poor wretches live all huddled up
together, fifty in a house, eh? I was told I couldn't drive up it in a
carriage, so I had to walk. Do you know such a place?"

"Do I know such a place! Do I know Rag Alley? Oh, my eye! Oh, he! he!
he! he!"

"