ry. One
foreigner who landed in this country the day Astor sailed away, will be
of more value in peace or war than Astor could be if he had remained."

"Gosh!" said the boy, as he got up out of Uncle Ike's lap, "if you
are not a comfort! Between that porous plaster, and Astor's going to
England, and my girl at the seashore, I was about down with nervous
prostration, but I am all right now," and the redheaded boy went out to
round up the gang and tell them the country was all safe enough, as long
as they had Uncle Ike to run it.

CHAPTER XIV.

"Well, you are a sight!" said Uncle Ike, as the red-headed boy came in
the room, all out of breath, his shirt unbuttoned and his hair wet and
dripping, and his face so clean that it was noticeable. "Why don't you
make your toilet before you come into a gentleman's room? Where you
been, anyway?"

"Been in swimming at the old swimming hole," said the boy, as he
finished buttoning his shirt, and sat down to put on his shoes and
stockings, which he had carried in his hat. "Had more fun than a barrel
of monkeys. Stole the clothes of a boy, and left him a paper flour sack
to go home in. Wait a minute and you will see him go by," and the boy
rushed to the window and yelled to Uncle Ike to come and see the fun.

[Illustration: Nothing on but a flour sack 119]

Presently a boy came down the street from toward the river with nothing
on but a flour sack. He had cut holes in the bottom to put his feet
through, and pulled it up to his body, and the upper part covered
his chest to the arms, which were bare and sunburned, and the boy was
marching along the street as unconcerned as possible, while all who saw
him were laughing.

"What did you do that for?" said Uncle Ike, as he called to the boy to
come in.

"Just for a joke," said the red-headed boy, laughing, and jollying the
boy dressed in the flour sack, as he came in at Uncle Ike's invitation.

"Well, that is a good enough joke for two," said Uncle Ike. "Now take
off your clothes and change with this boy, and put on the flour sack
yourself," and he superintended the change, until the other boy had on a
full suit of clothes, and the red-headed boy had on the flour sack. "Now
I want you to go to the grocery and get me a paper of tobacco."

"O, gosh, I don't want to go out in the street with this flour sack on.
Some dog will chase me, and the people will make fun of me," said the
boy, with an entirely new view of a practical jo