He sat on the
side of his dirty little bed for awhile, and then he snuggled under
the covers and was soon asleep again. For a boy who has been walking
all day seldom stays awake from worry.
But when he awoke in the morning, it was to realise the fact that he
must get some money this very day or go to the police station. The few
cents he had remaining were only enough to buy some coffee and bread
for breakfast, and the poor lad didn't know where his next meal would
come from. As he went out, the clerk in the filthy office of the
lodging-house told him that he needn't come back any more.
"Why did you tell him that?" asked the fat man with a sly face.
"Because I went through his clothes last night when he was asleep, and
he had only six cents in his pocket. We don't want no starvin' brats
around here, to bring the Gerry Society down upon us."
It was well that Archie didn't know his pockets had been searched
while he was asleep, or his faith in human nature would have been more
shaken than ever before. He had not suspected that the men in this
lodging-house might be dishonest.
"They are poor," he said to himself when he saw them first, "but they
may be good men for all that."
After a slender meal, Archie found a library where he looked over the
advertising columns of the morning papers, trying to find some
position open which he thought he might fill.
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