had cleared two dollars and
ninety cents, with a fair prospect of making as much more in the
afternoon, since additional particulars of the accident were being
received hourly. Ben had only made thirty cents; but he and Johnny had
always been in partnership, dividing equally the profits of both, and
the same arrangement held good after Paul was taken into the concern.

It was decided that Ben should give up his business of boot-blackening
that afternoon, and sell papers with the others, so he carried his box
to a friend who had a fancy-goods stand in the door-way of an
unoccupied store, where he left it until he should finish his day's
work. Each paper that Paul sold that day had the same advertisement
offering a reward for any tidings of him, but since he never looked at
what his wares contained, save to read the head-lines in large letters
so as to get an idea what he should cry out, it did him as little good
as if it had never been there.

Fortunately for the boys, as the demand for papers was so great and
continued so long, Mrs. Green had set eight o'clock as the hour when
they would have dinner. By this plan she would have plenty of time to
cook it, and all hands would be through work and possessed of plenty
of leisure for eating. Therefore they continued the trade in news
until half-past seven, and then hurried for the last time to their
hogshead, where they found Dickey Spry eating his supper of crackers
and cheese.

The process of finding out exactly how much they had made was a long
and difficult one for both Ben and Johnny. Each time they counted it
over it was with a different result. When they were very warm, almost
angry, and quite positive that the fault of the difference in
reckoning was in the money itself, Paul took it upon himself to find
out the amount of cash on hand.

Four dollars and eighty-three cents was the grand total of their
earnings that day, and all hands were pleasantly surprised by the
prosperity that had beamed upon them.

Of course they could not expect such a result except on days when the
papers contained some important news; but business would be sure to be
good on the following morning, because then all the details of the
accident would have been received. After that perhaps Ben's business
would have an impetus given it by some friendly shower.

At the end of the week they would owe Mrs. Green seven dollars and a
half for the board of the firm, and Ben's proposition was unani