After leaving the bootblack Ralph hardly knew what to do with himself. It was barely three o'clock, and he fancied it still too early to visit Horace Kelsey's office again.
He concluded to walk around and see the sights, and accordingly strolled up Broadway past the City Hall Park, and continued on up until Fourteenth street was reached.
This great thoroughfare, with its immense stores, interested him greatly. He spent fully half an hour in looking into the show-windows.
"What a lot of money must be invested in business here," he thought. "How I would like to be a merchant on such a scale. A person who had never been here would not imagine it was so grand!"
When a neighboring clock showed the hour of four the boy thought it time to return to the insurance agent's office. He was soon on his way downtown.
At the entrance to the office, a policeman tapped him on the shoulder. It was the one he had met earlier in the day.
"Hallo, young fellow," he said. "Did you get your money back?"
"Yes, I got my money, and a trifle more," returned Ralph. "Did you catch the man?"
"No, the rascal gave me the slip. So you got more than your money, eh?"
"I got five dollars more. But he has my pocketknife and a silver temperance badge. He can have his money when he gives me my things back."