Jacks Ward | Page 7

know him. I've had chances enough."
"You never knew him to do anything dishonest."
"I suppose he's a model boy?"
"No, he isn't. He's got faults enough, I admit; but he wouldn't spend for
his own pleasure money given him for buying papers."

"If he buys the papers, I don't believe he can sell them, so the money's
wasted anyway," said Rachel, trying another tack.
"We will wait and see," said Mrs. Harding.
She saw that Rachel was in one of her unreasonable moods, and that it
was of no use to continue the discussion.
CHAPTER IV
MRS. HARDING TAKES A BOARDER
Jack started for the newspaper offices and bought a supply of papers.
"I don't see why I can't sell papers as well as other boys," he said to
himself. "I'm going to try, at any rate."
He thought it prudent, however, not to buy too large stock at first. He
might sell them all, but then again he might get "stuck" on a part, and
this might take away all his profits.
Jack, however, was destined to find that in the newspaper business, as
well as in others, there was no lack of competition. He took his place
just below the Astor House, and began to cry his papers. This aroused
the ire of a rival newsboy a few feet away.
"Get away from here!" he exclaimed, scowling at Jack.
"What for?" said Jack.
"This is my stand."
"Keep it, then. This is mine," retorted Jack, composedly.
"I don't allow no other newsboys in this block," said the other.
"Don't you? You ain't the city government, are you?"
"I don't want any of your impudence. Clear out!"

"Clear out yourself!"
"I'll give you a lickin'!"
"Perhaps you will when you're able."
Jack spoke manfully; but the fact was that the other boy probably was
able, being three years older, and as many inches taller.
Jack kept on crying his papers, and his opponent, incensed at the
contemptuous disregard of his threats, advanced toward him, and,
taking Jack unawares, pushed him off the sidewalk with such violence
that he nearly fell flat. Jack felt that the time for action had arrived. He
dropped his papers temporarily on the sidewalk, and, lowering his head,
butted against his young enemy with such force as to double him up,
and seat him, gasping for breath, on the sidewalk. Tom Rafferty, for
this was his name, looked up in astonishment at the unexpected form of
the attack.
"Well done, my lad!" said a hearty voice.
Jack turned toward the speaker, and saw a stout man dressed in a blue
coat with brass buttons. He was dark and bronzed with exposure to the
weather, and there was something about him which plainly indicated
the sailor.
"Well done, my lad!" he repeated. "You know how to pay off your
debts."
"I try to," said Jack, modestly. "But where's my papers?"
The papers, which he had dropped, had disappeared. One of the boys
who had seen the fracas had seized the opportunity to make off with
them, and poor Jack was in the position of a merchant who had lost his
stock in trade.
"Who took them papers?" he asked, looking about him.
"I saw a boy run off with them," said a bystander.

"I'm glad of it," said Tom Rafferty, sullenly.
Jack looked as if he was ready to pitch into him again, but the sailor
interfered.
"Don't mind the papers, my lad. What were they worth?"
"I gave twenty cents for 'em."
"Then here's thirty."
"I don't think I ought to take it," said Jack. "It's my loss."
"Take it, my boy. It won't ruin me. I've got plenty more behind."
"Thank you, sir; I'll go and buy some more papers."
"Not to-night. I want you to take a cruise with me."
"All right, sir."
"I suppose you'd like to know who I am?" said the sailor, as they
moved off together.
"I suppose you're a sailor."
"You can tell that by the cut of my jib. Yes, my lad, I'm captain of the
Argo, now in port. It's a good while since I've been in York. For ten
years I've been plying between Liverpool and Calcutta. Now I've got
absence to come over here."
"Are you an American, sir?"
"Yes; I was raised in Connecticut, but then I began going to sea when I
was only thirteen. I only arrived to-day, and I find the city changed
since ten years ago, when I used to know it."
"Where are you staying--at what hotel?"

"I haven't gone to any yet; I used to stay with a cousin of mine, but he's
moved. Do you know any good boarding place, where they'd make me
feel at home, and let me smoke a pipe after dinner?"
An idea struck Jack.