"Maybe you did; but this is the City Hall Park. We're employed by the city, and we have to charge the reg'lar price."
"I wish I'd got my boots blacked down to the museum," said the victim, in a tone of disappointment, producing twenty-five cents, which was eagerly appropriated by the young extortioner.
"I say, Tommy, give us a treat, or we'll peach," said one of the boys.
Tom led the way to the ice-cream vender's establishment, where with reckless extravagance he ordered a penny ice-cream all round for the half-dozen boys in his company, even then making a handsome thing out of the extra pay he had obtained from his rustic patron.
By this time it was half-past two o'clock. So Ben learned from the City Hall clock. He was getting decidedly hungry. There were apple and cake stands just outside the railings, on which he could have regaled himself cheaply, but his appetite craved something more solid. There was a faint feeling, which nothing but meat could satisfy.
Ben had no idea how much a plate of meat would cost at a restaurant. He had but twenty-two cents, and whatever he got must come within that limit. Still he hoped that something could be obtained for this sum.
Where to go,—that was the question.
"Can you tell me a good place to get some dinner?" he asked of a boy, standing near him.
"Down on Nassau Street or Fulton Street," was the reply.
"Where is Fulton Street?" asked Ben, catching the last name.