do you account for his name on it?"

"Maybe he sold it to the man I bought it of."

"I didn't sell it at all," said Ben.

"Was that all you had taken?"

"No," said Ben. "There was another shirt besides."

"Do you know anything about it, Mike?"

"No, I don't," said Mike.

"I don't know whether you are telling the truth or not," said the
superintendent; "but at any rate you must take this off, and give it to
the right owner."

"And will he pay me the fifty cents?" asked Mike.

"I don't think you bought it at all; but if you did, you can prove it by
the man you bought it of. If you can do that, I will see that the money
is refunded to you."

There was one strong reason for discrediting Mike's story. These
Baxter-Street shops are often the receptacles of stolen goods. As their
identification might bring the dealers into trouble, they are very
careful, as soon as an article comes into their possession, to
obliterate all the marks of former ownership. It was hardly likely that
they would suffer a shirt to go out of their hands so plainly marked as
was the case in the present instance. Mr. O'Connor, of course, knew
this, and accordingly had very little fear that he was doing injustice
to Mike in ordering him to make restitution to Ben.

Mike was forced, considerably against his will, to take off the new
shirt, and put on his old ragged one. But the former was no longer as
clean as formerly.

"Where can I get it washed?" asked Ben.

"You can wash it yourself, in the wash-room, or you can carry it to a
laundry, as some of the boys do, if you are willing to pay for it."

"I think I would rather carry it to a laundry," said Ben, who doubted
strongly his ability to wash the shirt so as to improve its appearance.
The superintendent accordingly gave him the direction to one of these
establishments.

Opposite the room which he had entered was a smaller room used by the
boys as a gymnasium. Ben looked into it, and determined to use it on
some future occasion. He next went into the wash-room. Here he saw two
or three boys, stripped to the waist, engaged in washing out their
shirts. Being provided with but a single one each, they left them to dry
over night while they were in bed, and could dispense with them. Ben
wondered how they managed about ironing them; but he soon found that
with these amateur laundresses ironing was not considered necessary.
They are put on rough-dry in the morning, and so worn until they are