“Yes; all you’ve got to do is to go up Madison avenue till you get to the Battery. Go round it; then cross Madison square, keepin’ the Astor House on your left hand. Turn into the Bowery at Trinity Church; then cross over to Twenty-seventh street. Go up Twenty-seventh street six blocks till you get to A. T. Stewart’s store; then take a short cut to Eighth avenue, and there you are.”
These false and absurd directions were delivered with great volubility by the bootblack; but it is needless to say that they made a very confused impression upon the mind of Joshua, who felt more bewildered and helpless than before.
“I don’t know any of those places,” he said. “I am afraid I couldn’t find the way.”
“Maybe you couldn’t. I know a man who was two days findin’ a place only a mile off. If he’d paid a dollar to somebody that knew the way he’d been all right.”
This put a new idea into Joshua’s mind.
“If you’ll show me the way to Sam Crawford’s, I’ll give you fifty cents,” he said.
“That’s too little,” said the boy. “I couldn’t neglect my business so long for that. I should lose money.”
“How much do you want?”
“A dollar. It’s worth a dollar to go so fur. I might lose half a dozen shines.”
The boy would have stood out for a dollar but for the fact that another bootblack had come up--one of his rivals in business--and he was afraid he might offer to go for less. Accordingly he hastened to strike a bargain.