ose to Broadway and sat
down.

The situation was certainly a serious one, and the young oarsman was
decidedly sober in mind as he sat there, staring vacantly at the hurrying
throng.

"Well, young man, how did you make out last night?"

The question came from a bench just behind Jerry. Looking around, he saw
sitting there the gentleman he had run into while trying to find Wakefield
Smith.

"I didn't make out at all, sir."

"Couldn't find him, eh?"

"No, sir."

"Those pickpockets are slick chaps, and no mistake," went on the
gentleman.

"Did you lose much?"

"All I had--nearly thirty dollars."

"Phew! that is too bad. Well, I wouldn't sit down to mope about it. You
might as well get to work and earn the amount over again."

"The trouble is, I can't find any work," answered the boy, earnestly. "I
would work fast enough if I could only find it to do."

"You are out of a situation?"

"Yes, sir."

"Since when?"

"Since I came to New York," answered Jerry.

"You are about as bad off as I was some forty years ago," said the man,
with a broad smile. "At that time I found myself in this city, with just
twenty-five cents in my pocket. But I struck employment, and rose from one
place to another until now I am my own master, with a bookbinding-shop
where I employ nearly fifty hands."

As he spoke he gazed at Jerry curiously.

"You were going to ask me for a job, weren't you?" he went on, and Jerry
nodded. "What can you do?"

"I'm not used to any such work, sir. But you'll find me willing and
strong--and honest. I would like to earn a little before I went back to my
home."

"Well, those three qualities you mention are sure to win, my boy. Perhaps
I can find an opening for you. Here comes a friend I have been waiting
for. I am going out of town with him. Call at my shop to-morrow morning,
if you don't strike anything in the meantime."

And, handing out his card, Mr. Islen walked rapidly away.

Fifteen minutes later found Jerry on the way to Alexander Slocum's office.
In an inner pocket he carried the papers his father had unearthed from the
trunk in the garret at home.

CHAPTER XXVI.

ALEXANDER SLOCUM IS ASTONISHED.

Jerry felt that his mission to the real estate man was a delicate one.
What would he have to say when he learned who the youth was and what he
had come for?

The boy resolved to be on guard. He might be from the country and green,
but no one should catch him napping, as had Mr