econd floor. They looked under the beds and into the band-boxes, opened
all the bureau drawers and wardrobe doors, peered down into the
bath-tub, and almost tumbled in, and couldn't find a steamboat. Then
they went up stairs again, and all over the rooms in the third story--no
steamboat there.

"Then they went up stairs again, and all over the rooms in the top of
the house, opened all the cook's bundles, the waiter's boxes, the
chambermaid's trunk, and the laundress's umbrella; but not a single
steamboat was to be seen.

"What was poor Harry to do?

"He _must_ mind his mamma; and Nannie kept saying--'I want to tee a
'teamboat.'

"All of a sudden Harry spied a globe of the world in one corner of the
attic, and he cried out--'Here, Nannie, let's look on this world and see
if we can find one.'

[Illustration]

"So down they nestled close together, and turned the world round and
round, but, strange to tell, there was not a single steamboat sailing on
it. It was really too bad.

"They came down stairs again, and then a bright thought struck
Harry--'Oh, yes!' he exclaimed, 'I know where a steamboat is. Dear me!
certainly! Come, Nannie, hurry.'

"Down they went to the hall, and Harry put on his cap, and opened the
front door, and the children went out. Hand in hand they trotted merrily
along, both delighted to think that at last they were on the track of a
steamboat.

"After walking a long way, they came to a rough board fence, and Harry
peeped through a knot-hole to see what was inside. He looked so long,
that Nannie cried impatiently--'Let me see the 'teamboat.'

"'No, it isn't,' said Harry; 'it's some boys playing ball. Come and
look.'

"Nannie went close to the fence, and stood on the very tips of her
little toes, but the knot-hole was too high; so Harry lifted her with
all his strength, and she had a fine time seeing the boys playing ball.

"As he let her come down rather suddenly, she caught her frock in a
splinter of wood in the fence, and it was torn from top to bottom. 'Oh,
my!' said Nannie, looking at her dress, 'what a _gate_ hole; oh, my!'

"'Oh, never mind it,' cried Harry, 'that's nothing;' and he laughed so
merrily, that Nannie thought to tear dresses was great fun, and laughed
too.

"On they went, hand in hand, and every fence they came to where there
were no houses, they peeped through and searched for the steamboat; and
they scrambled and fell against so many rough boards, that Nannie's
pr