Once his desire to see was whetted again, Willie turned eagerly to the pleasant task of getting better acquainted with New York. To be sure, he already knew the town’s geography by heart. He could tell an inquirer in an instant where Albany Street or Minetta Lane or Coenties Slip was located. He had learned the names and locations on a map during the search for the secret wireless. Yet mostly these places were still but names to him. When he said Mulberry Street, he did not think of tall brick tenements strung from fire-escape to fire-escape with red peppers, or of gaudy street festivals, or of the teeming population of swarthy Italians that lived in these brick tenements. And when he spoke of Allen Street, he had no vision of a dark, reeking thoroughfare, with the elevated railway trains thundering overhead and shutting out the sunlight, the garbage cans overflowing on the sidewalks, the glittering shops of the brass merchants, and the chattering swarms of Hebrews that filled the street. Now, Willie felt, the time had come for him to know the places themselves, the topography, the life that was lived in these places. But he was sadly restricted in his efforts. Only after office hours had he opportunity to do any sightseeing. Being at the very end of Manhattan Island, it was necessary for him to ride if he meant to go any distance. Car fares cost money. And the small salary Willie was getting hardly more than sufficed to provide him with food and shelter. He had to be very careful of his pennies. In some respects that was fortunate for Willie. It encouraged, and almost necessitated, his seeing what lay near at hand and could be seen quickly and at no cost. So it came about that Willie began to make a systematic survey of what is probably the most interesting part of old New York—the region from Canal Street to the Battery. Naturally Willie wanted to see more of the Armenians and the quarter in which they lived. He had never forgotten the occurrences that marked his first visit, nor had he ceased to wonder at those occurrences. And as he boarded right around the corner from the district, he was much to be seen in this odd little nook of lower Manhattan. He had already found the food toothsome and cheap; and more and more he ate in these Oriental cafes. Quite as naturally he began to visit the shops; but as he had little to spend, the few purchases he did make were of the most inexpensive sorts.