ore, are obliged to watch them, and keep them on their
feet.

The train occasionally stopped during the night, and was several times
delayed, so that it did not reach its destination till the middle of the
following forenoon. The drover provided him a hearty breakfast in the
morning, and Noddy was in no haste. The future was still nothing but a
blank to him, and he was in no hurry to commence the battle of life.

When he arrived at Brighton he assisted in driving the cattle to the
pens; and then, with half a dollar, which the drover gave him for his
extra services, he started for Boston, whose spires he could even then
see in the distance. He reached the city, and from the Mill Dam--the
long bridge he had just crossed--he walked to the Common. Being quite
worn out by two nights of hard work, and the long walk he had just
taken, he seated himself on one of the stone benches near the Frog Pond.
It was a warm and pleasant day, and he watched the sports of the happy
children who were at play, until his eyelids grew heavy, and he hardly
knew the State House from the Big Tree.

For a boy of his age he had undergone a severe experience. The exciting
circumstances which surrounded him had kept him wide awake until his
physical nature could endure no more. Leaving the seat he had occupied,
he sought out the quietest place he could find, and stretching himself
on the grass, went to sleep.

It was nearly sunset when he awoke; but he felt like a new being, ready
now to work and win at any business which might offer. He wandered about
the streets of the city for two hours, and then ate a hearty supper at a
restaurant. It was too late to do anything that night, and he asked a
policeman to tell him where he could sleep. The officer, finding he was
a friendless stranger, gave him a bed at the station-house.

In the morning he made his way to the wharves, and during the long day
he went from vessel to vessel in search of a berth as cabin-boy. He
asked for this situation, because he had frequently heard the term; but
he was willing to accept any position he could obtain. No one wanted a
cabin-boy, or so small a sailor as he was. Night came on again, with a
hopeless prospect for the future; and poor Noddy began to question the
wisdom of the course he had taken. A tinker's shop, with plenty to eat,
and a place to sleep, was certainly much better than wandering about the
streets.

He could not help thinking of Woodville, and the pleas