“Nor I,” added Johnny.
“Oh, this is jolly fun!” cried the newsboy, and then the rain came down harder than ever, and some of it splashed into the big box, which was like a boat sailing along the watery street.
“Oh, dear!” cried Mary, “my dress will get all wet!”
“Oh, I should have thought of that before!” said the newsboy, for the children had taken away the newspapers from over their heads. “Wait, and I’ll make a top over the box. Then we will be as dry as if we were in a house.”
So what do you think he did? He took a lot of his papers from inside the pile under his arm, where they were pretty dry, and he laid them over the open top of the drygoods box, and he fastened them down with some pins, and then the rain didn’t come in any more, for there was a paper roof over the box-ship.
“That’s fine!” exclaimed Mary. “Tell me, are you the fairy mousie, changed into a boy?”
“No,” answered the boy, “I am not. What made you think so?”
“Well, because you think of doing things so quickly, you know. We were chasing after the fairy mousie, that we found asleep on my hair ribbon,” said Mary, “and that’s how we got lost.”
“Well, I’m sorry I’m not the fairy mousie,” said the newsboy, “but perhaps I can help you find her. Now, do you happen to be hungry?”
“Well,” said Tommy, turning his head on one side, so as to let some water run out of his ear, “we had breakfast a little while ago, but I guess I am hungry.”