ow this boy is an unworthy object?"

"He is a young vagrant."

"Can he help it? It is the way he makes his living."

The discussion continued, but Phil did not stop to hear it. He had
received more than he expected, and now felt ready to continue his
business. One thing was fortunate, and relieved him from the anxiety
which he had formerly labored under. He was not obliged to obtain a
certain sum in order to escape a beating at night. He had no master
to account to. He was his own employer, as long as he kept out of the
clutches of the padrone.

Phil continued to roam about the streets very much after the old
fashion, playing here and there as he thought it expedient. By noon he
had picked up seventy-five cents, and felt very well satisfied with his
success. But if, as we are told, the hour that is darkest is just before
day, it also happens sometimes that danger lies in wait for prosperity,
and danger menaced our young hero, though he did not know it. To explain
this, we must go back a little.

When Pietro prepared to leave the lodging-house in the morning, the
padrone called loudly to him.

"Pietro," said he, "you must find Filippo today."

"Where shall I go?" asked Pietro.

"Go to Newark. Filippo went there, no doubt, while you, stupid that
you are, went looking for him in Jersey City. You have been in Newark
before?"

"Yes, signore padrone."

"Very good; then you need no directions."

"If I do not find him in Newark, where shall I go?"

"He is in Newark," said the padrone, confidently. "He will not leave
it."

He judged that Phil would consider himself safe there, and would prefer
to remain in a city rather than go into the country.

"I will do my best," said Pietro.

"I expect you to bring him back to-night."

"I should like to do so," said Pietro, and he spoke the truth. Apart
from his natural tendency to play the tyrant over smaller boys, he felt
a personal grudge against Phil for eluding him the day before, and so
subjecting him to the trouble of another day's pursuit, besides the
mortification of incurring a reprimand from his uncle. Never did agent
accept a commission more readily than Pietro accepted that of catching
and bringing Filippo to the padrone.

Leaving the lodging-house he walked down to the ferry at the foot
of Cortlandt Street, and took the first train for Newark. It was ten
o'clock before he reached the city. He had nothing in particular to
guide him, but made up his mind t