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desirable, either one of them, to be sure, but it shows there's an opening for me somewhere."

      The next was a cigar store.

      "I might as well go in," thought Ben.

      A little hump-backed man was behind the counter.

      "Want to hire a boy?" asked Ben.

      "Are you the boy?"

      "Yes."

      "What can you do?"

      "I am willing to do anything."

      The hunchback grinned.

      "Then perhaps I can give you a situation. Will you work for three dollars a week?"

      Ben reflected.

      "That will do, with strict economy," he thought, "till the factory takes me on again."

      "I'll come for a few weeks, at that rate," he said.

      "But perhaps you won't like your duties," said the hunchback, grinning in a curious manner.

      "What would be my duties?"

      "I should paint you red, and have you stand outside the door, as an

      Indian," was the answer.

      Ben didn't relish the joke.

      "You'd better take that position yourself," he retorted. "Nobody'd know the difference."

      "Get out!" roared the cigar dealer angrily.

      Ben left at once.

      "That's the third situation I've been offered," he said: "I'd give 'em all three for a decent one."

      Chapter III

At Lovell's Grounds

      On the way home Ben met James Watson.

      "How are you, James?" he said. "What have you been doing this morning?"

      James gaped.

      "The fact is," he said, "I have only just got up and had my breakfast."

      "I don't see how you can lie abed so late."

      "Oh, I can do it just as easy. I guess I was born sleepy."

      "You look so," retorted Bed, with a laugh.

      "What have you been doing?" inquired James lazily.

      "I've been about in search of a place."

      "You have!" said James, with sudden interest. "Did you find any?"

      "Yes, I found three."

      "What!" exclaimed James, in surprise.

      "I was offered three places."

      "Which did you take?"

      "I didn't take any; I didn't like them."

      "You are too particular, Ben. Just tell me where they are; I'll accept one."

      "All right!" said Ben. "I'll give you all the information you require.

      The first is a dry-goods store."

      "I'd like to be in a dry-goods store. What's the pay?"

      "Fifty cents a week for the first year."

      "Faugh!" ejaculated James, disgusted. "What's the second place?"

      "Experiment clerk at the druggist's."

      "Good pay?"

      "I don't know."

      "What are the duties?"

      "To taste all the medicines, to make sure there's no poison in them. The druggist offered me a pill, to begin with, about as large as my head."

      "I wouldn't take it for a hundred dollars a week. What's the third?"

      "In a cigar store. The pay is three dollars a week."

      "That's better than nothing. Where is it? I guess I'll take it."

      "I don't think you'll like the duties," said Ben, laughing.

      "I wouldn't mind selling cigars."

      "That isn't what you're wanted for. You are to be painted red, and stand outside as an Indian."

      "That's the worst yet. I don't wonder you didn't take any of those chances. What are you going to do this afternoon?"

      "Try and find some more places."

      "Leave that till tomorrow. You know there's going to be a big picnic at Lovell's Grounds, with all sorts of athletic sports. There are prizes for wrestling, jumping, and so on."

      "I would like it well enough, but I can't afford to go."

      "There'll be nothing to pay. Father subscribed for two tickets, so I've got a spare one. Come, will you go?"

      "Yes, I will, and thank you."

      "Then come round to the house as soon as you've got through dinner."

      "All right! I'll come."

      "I suppose you haven't found a place?" said Mrs. Bradford when Ben entered.

      "Not yet."

      "I don't know what's going to become of us if you don't," said Aunt

      Jane mournfully.

      "Don't get discouraged so quick, aunt. I've only been looking round one forenoon. Besides, I've been offered a place, and declined it."

      "Declined it! What could you have been thinking of?"

      Ben then told his aunt of the place at the druggist's. He thought he would not mention the others.

      "If you'd taken it, we might have got our medicine cheaper," said Aunt Jane, who did not comprehend a joke, and understood the offer literally.

      "I should have got mine for nothing," said Ben, laughing, "and more than I wanted, too."

      "What pay would you get?"

      "I didn't ask. The first pill the druggist offered me was too much for me. So I respectfully declined the position."

      "Pills are excellent for the constitution," said Mrs. Bradford, in a rather reproachful tone. "I never could get you to take them, Benjamin. Some day you'll lose your life, perhaps, because you are so set against them."

      "I can't say I hanker after them, aunt," said Ben good humoredly. "However, you see, I might have had a place, so you mustn't get discouraged so quick."

      "Will you stay at home this afternoon, Ben?" asked little Tony.

      "I can't Tony; I have an engagement with James Watson. Aunt Jane, if I am late to supper, don't be frightened."

      Ben found James ready and waiting. They set out at once.

      Lovell's Grounds were situated a mile and a half away; they comprised several acres, sloping down to a pond, which was provided with pleasure boats. The grounds were frequently hired by parties from neighboring towns, having been fitted up especially for the enjoyment of a crowd. To-day they were engaged by a young people's association, and the program included, among other things, some athletic sports.

      The grounds were pretty well filled when the two boys arrived. In fact, the performance had already commenced.

      "You're just in time for the fun, boys," said George Herman, a mutual acquaintance, coming up to meet them.

      "Why, what's up George?"

      "There is to be a fat man's race of two hundred yards, for a prize of five dollars."

      "Who are going to enter?"

      "Tom Hayden, the landlord of the Milltown House, and Jim Morrison, the tailor. One weighs two hundred and fifty, the other two hundred and forty-three."

      "Good!" laughed Ben. "That will be fun. Where do they start from?"

      "There! Don't you see that chalk-mark? And there come the men."

      There was a level track laid out, extending two hundred yards, which was used for such occasions, and this was one of the attractive features of Lovell's Grounds.

      The two men advanced to the starting-line, each accoutered for the race. They had divested themselves of their coats,

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