told him it was in
'Scorpion Cove,' he replied he didn't know where that was. I told him it
wasn't much of a home, and he said I ought to have a better one. It was
all very well to say so; but with me the case was different. That night
I met Tom Farley, who was glad to see me, and told how he got out of the
lock-up, and what he thought of the lock-up, and the jolly old Judge who
sent him to the lock-up, and who he saw in the lock-up, and what
mischief was concocted in the lock-up, and what he got to eat in the
lock-up, and how the lock-up wasn't so bad a place after all.

"The fact was I was inclined to think the lock-up not so bad a place to
get into, seeing how they gave people something good to eat, and clothes
to wear. Tom and me went into business together. We sold _Heralds_ and
Sunday papers, and made a good thing of it, and shared our earnings, and
got enough to eat and some clothes. I took up my stand in Centre Market,
and Tom took up his at Peck Slip. At night we would meet, count our
earnings, and give them to Mr. Crogan, who kept the cellar in Water
street, where we slept. I left Hag Zogbaum, who we got to calling the
wizard. She got all we could earn or pilfer, and we got nothing for our
backs but a few rags, and unwholesome fish and beer for our bellies. I
thought of Anna day and night; I hoped to meet in Centre Market the
woman who took her away.

"I said no one ever looked in at the den in 'Scorpion Cove,' but there
was a kind little man, with sharp black eyes, and black hair, and an
earnest olive-colored face, and an earnester manner about him, who used
to look in now and then, talk kindly to us, and tell us he wished he had
a home for us all, and was rich enough to give us all enough to eat. He
hated Hag Zogbaum, and Hag Zogbaum hated him; but we all liked him
because he was kind to us, and used to shake his head, and say he would
do something for us yet. Hag Zogbaum said he was always meddling with
other people's business. At other times a man would come along and throw
tracts in at the gate of the alley. We were ignorant of what they were
intended for, and used to try to sell them at the Gibraltars. Nobody
wanted them, and nobody could read at the den, so Hag Zogbaum lighted
the fire with them, and that was the end of them.

"Well, I sold papers for nearly two years, and learned to read a little
by so doing, and got up in the world a little; and being what was called
smart, attracted the attention o