eakfast. Here, Peter, you waited
on this young man, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"He hasn't paid for his breakfast, and pretends he hasn't got any
money. _Bounce him!_"

If Sam was ignorant of the meaning of the word "bounce," he was soon
enlightened. The waiter seized him by the collar, before he knew what
was going to happen, pushed him to the door, and then, lifting his
foot by a well-directed kick, landed him across the sidewalk into the
street.

This proceeding was followed by derisive laughter from the other
waiters who had gathered near the door, and it was echoed by two
street urchins outside, who witnessed Sam's ignominious exit from the
restaurant.

Sam staggered from the force of the bouncing, and felt disgraced and
humiliated to think that the waiter who had been so respectful and
attentive should have inflicted upon him such an indignity, which he
had no power to resent.

"I wish I was back at the deacon's," he thought bitterly.

"How do you feel?" asked one of the boys who had witnessed Sam's
humiliation, not sympathetically, but in a tone of mockery.

"None of your business!" retorted Sam, savagely.

"He feels bad, Mickey," said the other. "He's heard bad news, and
that's what made him in such a hurry."

Here both the boys laughed, and Sam retorted angrily, "I'll make you
feel bad, if you aint careful."

"Hear him talk, Mickey,--aint he smart?"

"I'll make you both smart," said Sam, beginning to roll up his
sleeves; for he was no coward, and the boys were only about his own
size.

"He wants to bounce us, like he was bounced himself," said Pat Riley.
"How did it feel, Johnny?"

Sam gave chase, but his tormentors were better acquainted with the
city than he, and he did not succeed in catching them. Finally he gave
it up, and, sitting down on a convenient door-step, gave himself up to
melancholy reflections.

CHAPTER XV.

ANY WAY TO MAKE A LIVING.

Boys who have a good home are apt to undervalue it. They do not
realize the comfort of having their daily wants provided for without
any anxiety on their part. They are apt to fancy that they would like
to go out into the great world to seek their fortunes. Sometimes it
may be necessary and expedient to leave the safe anchorage of home,
and brave the dangers of the unknown sea; but no boy should do this
without his parents' consent, nor then, without making up his mind
that he will need all his courage and all his resolution to obtain