There was no further interruption for nearly an hour; for when Dan carried the goose in his arms he was by no means the object of curiosity he was with Crippy following him. At the expiration of that time it dawned upon him that in a place as large as New York it was useless for him to walk around in the hope of meeting his uncle, or any of his family. "I declare, I don't know what to do, Crippy," he said, as he seated himself on a doorstep with the goose by his side, and looked mournfully up and down the street. ,. I shouldn't wonder if we hadn't been more'n half-way 'round the city in all this time, an' yet we hain't seen any of uncle Robert's folks. What. shall we do?" Crippy made no reply to the question; but a boy about Dan's size, who was looking wonderingly at the goose, as he stood on his shortest leg in a mournful way, spoke: "Wot is it yer don't know wot ter do? " "I don't know how to find my uncle Robert. Crippy an' me come down to see him, an' now we can't find his house." " Do you call him Crippy?" asked the boy, as he nodded towards the goose. "Ves, he's Crippy Hardy. Mother was goin' to kill him for dinner to- morrer, so we come down here to get uncle Robert to go up an' see about it." " How far have you come? " " Seven miles." " Did you walk? " " Every step." " Well," said the boy, as he looked at Crippy in a critical way, "it seems to me that's a mighty mean kind of a goose ter walk so far fur. He hain't handsome no ways, an' I think he'd look a good deal better on ther table roasted, than he does out here on ther street." Up to that moment Dan had been disposed to trust this boy who was so friendly; but when he spoke so slightingly of Crippy, he was disappointed in him. "Vou don't know Crippy, or you wouldn't say that," replied Dan, gravely. "I would walk seventeen times as far if it would keep him from gettin' killed." " Well, I tell yer wot it is," and the boy spoke like one thoroughly conversant with geese and their ways, "he's got ter be a good deal better'n he looks, ter 'mount to anything." "An' he is," replied Dan; and then he gave the stranger a full account of Crippy's sagacity and wisdom, with such success that, when he had finished, the goose evidently stood high in the city boy's estimation. "He's prob'ly a mighty nice kind of a goose," said the boy; "but it seems to me if I had a pet I'd want one that could sleep with me, an' you know you couldn't take this goose to bed." "I could if mother would let me, an' I don't see why she won't, for I know Crippy would just snuggle right down as good as anybody could." For some time the two discussed the question of pets in general, and Crippy in particular, and then the city boy remembered that his mother had sent him on an errand which should have been done an hour before.