Page:Ned Wilding's Disappearance.djvu/200

190 "I didn't order that," he said, though he looked at it longingly.

"The cashier says it's his treat," the girl replied with a smile, and Ned had no further compunctions about eating it.

"I told the other fellow you wouldn't bring the shovel back," the cashier remarked as Ned paid his check.

"How do you mean?" asked Ned.

"Why the clerk, who was on duty here when you ate breakfast, said he thought you would, and I said I didn't believe you would show up again. I said if you did I'd give you some pie. See?"

"Oh," Ned answered with a laugh, "much obliged."

That afternoon he bought a second-hand shovel and went about looking for more walks to clean. By night he had earned a dollar additional, which gave him considerable more capital than he had possessed since the episode at the hotel.

"I'll get a room at the lodging house to-night," he said as he finished a simple supper. "I don't like those beds all in a heap."

It was still snowing the next day, and though Ned found the field pretty well covered by scores of other men and boys, he managed to earn two