Then, suddenly, Bert saw something.
Standing in the dining-room door, looking at him, was a boy, about his
own age--a boy dressed in ragged clothes, and in bare feet, and in his
hand this boy held a piece of bread, and a slice of cake.
"You--you!" began Bert, wondering where he had seen that boy before.
And then, before Bert could say any more, the boy turned to run away,
and Bert jumped up to catch him.
CHAPTER XXII
THE STOWAWAY
"Come back here!" cried Bert, as he rushed on.
There was the sound of a fall in the passageway, and some one groaned.
"What is it?" cried Harry, running from the kitchen. "What's the
matter, Bert? Did you catch the rat?"
"No, but I caught something else," Bert answered. By this time he had
run into the passageway, and there, in front of the locker, or closet,
where the strange noises had been heard, lay the ragged boy. He had
fallen and hurt his head. The cake and bread had been knocked from his
hands. The door of the locker or closet was open.
"Why--why---" began Harry, in surprise. "It's a--a boy."
"Yes, and now I know who he is," said Bert, as the stowaway sat up,
not having been badly hurt by his fall. He had tripped in his bare
feet.
"Who--who is it?" asked Harry.
"It's that boy who gave us the fish--Will Watson, who worked for the
man that made the wire fence--Mr.
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