dark all day an' all night, 'an didn't
give me nothin' to eat; an' I'm dreadful 'fraid o' the dark; an' I
wasn't more'n jest about so high, neither. Well, you see, I couldn't
stan' it, an' one day I run away. I wouldn't 'a' run away if I could
'a' stood it, but I _couldn't_ stan' it no longer. Gran'pa Simon
wasn't there when I run away. He used to go off an' leave me with Ole
Sally, an' she wasn't much better'n him, only she couldn't see very
well, an' she couldn't follow me. I slep' with Buck the bootblack that
night, an' nex' mornin', early, I started out in the country. I was
'fraid they'd find me if I stayed aroun' the city. It was pirty near
afternoon 'fore I got out where the fields is, an' then a woman, she
give me sumpthin' to eat. I wanted to git away from the city fur's I
could, an' day-times I walked fast, an' nights I slep' under the big
trees, an' folks in the houses along the road, they give me things
to eat. An' then a circus came along, an' the man on the tiger wagon
he give me a ride, an' then I went everywhere with the circus, an'
I worked for 'em, oh! for a good many days; I worked real hard too,
a-doin' everything, an' they never let me go into their show but once,
only jest once. Well, w'en we got here to Scranton I got sick, an'
they wouldn't take me no furder 'cause I wasn't any good to 'em, an'
they went off an' lef me, an' nex' mornin' I laid down up there along
the road a-cryin' an' a-feelin' awful bad, an' then Uncle Billy, he
happened to come that way, an' he foun' me an' took me home with him.
He lives in part o' Widow Maloney's house, you know, an' he ain't got
nobody but me, an' I ain't got nobody but him, an' we live together.
That's why they call him Bachelor Billy, 'cause he ain't never got
married. Oh! he's been awful good to me, Uncle Billy has, awful good!"
And the boy looked out again musingly into the blue distance.

The man had not once stirred during this recital. His eyes had been
fixed on the boy's face, and he had listened with intense interest.

"Well, Ralph," he said, "that is indeed a strange story. And is that
all you know about yourself? Have you no clew to your parentage or
birthplace?"

"No, sir; not any. That's what I want to find out when I git money
enough."

"How much money have you now?"

"About nine dollars, countin' what I'll save from nex' pay day."

"And how do you propose to proceed when you have money enough?"

"Hire a lawyer to 'vestigate. The lawyer