A District Messenger Boy and a Necktie Party | Page 3

rather think the man will wish
he'd never'd said anything about a pony, for he'll be arrested."
" No, no, don't! " cried Ned, "he'd be sure to kill me if you should do
that, an' then what good would it do me? "
"But you hain't goin' to let him carry you off, be you?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Ned, and he began to cry piteously again,
while Joe tried to soothe him by wiping away the big tears with the cuff
of his jacket.
"I think you'd better let me tell the captain," he said.
"I can't, 'cause he knows another man on the boat, an' one of them
would be sure to kill me. Why won't you let me just go with you?"
"I would if I knew where I was goin'; but you see, I'm most as bad off
as you are;" and then Joe told him of his misfortune in having become
an involuntary passenger, concluding his story by saying, "An' I've got
a mother that'll feel just as bad as yours will; it will be worse for "her,
too, 'cause she says now that father's dead I'm all that she's got, an'
every cent I make I carry home to her, 'cause she has to work hard to
get money to pay the rent."
Joe could understand very readily, by Ned's clothing, that their homes
were widely different.Had it not been for his uniform, the messenger
boy would have worn a very shabby suit of clothes, while Ned was not
only dressed expensively, but he wore what was, to Joe, the very height
of extravagance - a gold ring.
"Even if you don't know where you're goin', take me with you," said
Ned. "If you'd help me, I'd try to get away from that man, - there he
comes now; don't 'let him whip me.".
"I'll go off, so's he won't know we've been talkin', an' just as soon as he
leaves again I'll come back," said he.
He had just time enough to dart behind a pile of baggage, before the
man came up, and he needed but one glance to convince him that Ned
had good cause for fear. The man's face was so brutal looking, that
even he began to think perhaps it might not be advisable to appeal to
the captain of the steamer, lest the story should not be believed, and he
be called to an account for interfering.
The valises were still where he had left them, and, marching boldly out,
but feeling quite the reverse of what he tried to assume, he took the
baggage, not heeding the pleading look Ned gave him, and went to the

stateroom, where he remained some time, trying to make up his mind
what he could do to aid the boy who had appealed to him. He did not
for a moment entertain the idea of leaving him with that man. Suddenly,
what seemed to be a very brilliant idea came to him, and he walked
down-stairs on to the main deck again, leaving the door of the
stateroom unlocked.
The man was seated by Ned's side, smoking, and Joe went from one
place to another, keeping the couple in sight all the while, until he saw
him walk away with a companion who spoke to him, and looked quite
as detestable as he.
Joe made sure that the two had gone into the lower cabin, and, running
quickly to where Ned sat, he said, "Come up-stairs with me as fast as
you can, an' I'll show you what to do." Then, taking the little fellow by
the hand, he hurried to the upper deck, not looking around, and hardly
daring to breathe until they were in the stateroom, with the door
securely fastened and the blind of the window closed.
" There!" he exclaimed, triumphantly, in a whisper, "I guess this fixes
Mr. Man, an' when he tries to find you he'll think that stealin' boys
hain't so easy as he thought it was."
"But he'll come up here to get me," said Ned, hoping that there was an
opportunity for him to escape, yet frightened at the step he had taken.
" He may come up-stairs; but how can he find you? See here, Ned, I've
got two tickets for the passage in my pocket, an' the room's been paid
for by the man I told you about. Now we can keep in here till the boat
stops, and then I guess we can give him the slip; but I hain't thought yet
how we either of us can get home."
"But s'posen he comes right up here to the door?"
"He w6n't do that. Can't you see, Ned, that he don '.t know anything
more about this room