and girls and Mr. Porter made up a purse for him of
twenty dollars.

"You had better put the money in a bank," said Dave. "Then you can use
it as you need it,--or put more to it."

"Twenty dollars!" gasped Charley Gamp, when he saw the money. "Wow! Say,
I'll be a millionaire before you know it, won't I?" And this remark
caused a laugh. He promised to put the money in a savings bank, where it
would draw interest, and said he would try his best to add to it from
his weekly wages.

"And will you go to school regularly?" asked Mr. Porter.

"Yes, sir, I'll give you my word," replied the street boy, promptly.

"And as soon as you learn to write, you must send us letters," put in
Jessie. "I shall wish to hear from you very much."

"I'll write, miss. I can write a little already--printing letters,"
answered Charley Gamp.

"Then here is my address," and Jessie handed over her card, and Laura
did the same. Mr. Latham promised to let Mr. Porter know how the boy got
along, and also promised to make some inquiries in the hope of locating
the lad's father. Charley Gamp was extremely grateful for all that had
been done for him, and when he parted from his new friends there were
tears in his eyes.

"My mother used to tell me there was angels," he said to Jessie and
Laura. "I didn't believe it much. But I do now, 'cause you're angels!"
And he nodded his head earnestly, to show that he meant what he said.

"And now, ho, for the boundless West!" cried Dave, when the party was on
its way to the depot. "Now for the plains and the mountains, the canyons
and the rivers, the cattle and the broncos, the campfires and the
cowboys, and the lasso and the rifle, the----"

"Hello, Dave is wound up!" interrupted the senator's son.

"Must have some of that ranch air in his lungs already," added Phil. "I
suppose the first thing you'll want to do will be to break in a bronco,
ride a couple of hundred miles, and lasso a couple of dozen buffaloes."

"Sure thing," answered Dave. "Then we'll build a roaring campfire, cook
a ten-pound bear steak and eat it, shoot half a dozen Apache Indians,
find a few fifteen-pound nuggets of gold, and--wake up and find the
mince pie you had for supper didn't agree with you." And this unexpected
ending brought forth a roar of laughter, in which even Mr. Porter
joined.

"You won't find it so exciting as all that at Star Ranch," said Laura,
after the others had quieted down. "But I think you'll be able to put