Bart Stirling's Road to Success; Or, The Young Express Agent

he in-freight house Bar

a man who sat between t

having seen him twice before-both times in this vicinit

d, very shabby and threadbare in his attire, his thin pale face

allenged Ba

red the man, the haunted expression i

ob yet?" a

ing for work," responded the

k you would,"

e, and you can call it hiding if you like. I'm grateful to you for the help you gave me the other night, for I was pretty nigh starved. B

d. "I want to help you, not harm you. I feel sor

an's forlorn face and he

freight cars, picking up scraps

man in a sudden passion. Then his emotion died down suddenly and he fell to tr

y away. "I'm crazy, I guess! I know I'm about a

uarter from his pocket. He deta

d any time you're hungry just go up to

the money, for I need it desperately bad, but don't you fret-it will come back. Yes! it wi

d him disappear in the direction of a cheap eating house just beyond the tracks, a

s, mended a broken toy pistol for one junior brother, made up a list of purchases of t

grounds, the common and the hill. Group after group greeted Bart with excited exclamations. He was a general favori

quibs, rockets and colored lights. Then he got mixed up in a general rush for the sheer

by a current of

excited voice, "

er scoffingly-"ain't lighted yet-

neering at the innocent fun the smaller boys were indulging in, and bragging about his own especial Fourth of July supply of fireworks which were to come from some mysterious source not clearly defin

ery fellow!"

ng up and slapping Bart on the back. "He

ed extended a ligh

irling," he said.

suggested Bart significantly.

red Dale, "only a surprise

le!" bubbled over

outlined against the light of the rising moon stood the grim old sentinel

ed when what was left of Company C, Second Inf

black ungainly relic, or tried to lift the heavy canno

on and donated an elegant flag. Every Washington's Birthday and Fourth of July since, this site had been the

hended what was in the wind. He thrille

barrel and we've rammed home a good solid charge, with a long fuse re

sport, yet he fumbled the lig

about this, fe

rare favorite with Bart. "We asked one-legged Dacy on the quiet.

hing Bart forward

t it yourself?" inq

ned young Wacker. "She may kick, you see, a

off," implored little Sawye

rantic chorus as Bart took

wo of the larger boys advanced with him, but halted at a safe distance, while

slight slant towards the stately mansion and grounds of Colonel Harrington,

feet or more over the side of the old fie

ed back merrily

f expectant juvenile humanity and a vast

, a writhing worm of quick flame, and then came a fea