CHAPTER XXI.

The Girl Ben Met in Owney Geoghegan's--A Confiding Sea Captain--Adventure in Little Falls--Pitching a Man Across the Erie Canal--Return to Syracuse.

Ben remained in New York at this time for a month or so, during which time he met with an adventure which it is worth while to relate.

Being well fixed in the way of money--he had made five hundred dollars in a few hours at faro--he went around one night to Owney Geoghegan's notorious resort on the Bowery. It was considerably past midnight when he entered the place, and the women who were lounging about the room were in the main most pitiable representatives of their sex. Among the number, however, was one who, in spite of her dilapidated appearance, gave unmistakable evidence of having seen better days. With this girl Ben fell into conversation, learned that she had followed a life of shame but a short time, and was struck by her beauty and intelligence. Poor and forsaken, as she now was, Hogan's sympathy went out to her, and the character of the man was illustrated in the way he treated her. Accustomed as he was to gilded vice and the association of the better class of the demi-monde, he could still make himself an equal with women of this sort. He accompanied his newly formed acquaintance to her home on Forsyth street, and there spent the remainder of the night, occupying, let it be said, a separate room. Most wretched quarters they were in which this young woman with her widowed mother lived. When Ben awoke the next morning, he proposed to the girl, Nellie, to stay to breakfast. She told him with some hesitancy that there was nothing in the house to eat.

"That makes no difference," said Ben; "we can get plenty to eat and drink, too. Here, take this ten-dollar bill, go out and buy whatever you want. A porter-house steak wouldn't go bad, and you might invest in a bottle of champagne, too."

With many expressions of gratitude, the girl took the money, and while she was gone, Ben, adapting himself to the surroundings, assisted the mother in preparing for the breakfast. It was a royal feast, and perhaps the consciousness of having done a good deed gave our hero a keen appetite.

When Ben came to take his departure, the girl and her mother were profuse in their thanks.

"You may be a prize fighter," said the latter, "but you have the kindest heart of any man I ever knew."

"When I'm in want again," said the girl, "I shall look you up to help me."

A day or two afterward, Ben, while in company with some of his friends, ran across the girl in the street, and readily furnished her with the money she solicited. She told him then that she had three or four hundred dollars' worth of rich dresses and jewelry in pawn, which she hoped some time to redeem.

Some two weeks after this adventure, Ben was passing down Broadway, with a friend, when he heard a voice call out

"Cousin!"

Turning, he saw a richly dressed young woman, in conversation with a gray-haired man. As he approached, the latter turned away, and upon coming up to the girl who had called him, Ben found his old friend, whom he had met in Owney Geoghegan's. It took only a few words to explain matters. The gray-haired man who had just left her was a sea captain, with plenty of money, who had been smitten by her many charms. He had provided her with funds to redeem her clothing and jewelry; had given her two hundred dollars in cash, and was prepared to give her any additional amount. She had called to Ben as "cousin" in order not to arouse the jealousy of the sea captain. And she was now prepared to pay back Ben's kindness with interest.

The two, therefore, started off together, and lived royally while the captain's money lasted; then they hit upon this plan for raising more. The captain was so smitten with the girl that he was only too anxious to spend money to gratify any whim of hers. She represented to the captain that she needed money to furnish her room in better style, and the confiding old fellow readily made out his checks for the desired amount. In this way he contributed another four hundred dollars to the enjoyment of the girl and Hogan.

It will be observed that when this woman was in want Ben was quite ready to assist her; but when she struck good fortune again, and was supplied with somebody else's money, he was equally ready to share it with her, and get all the pleasure out of the adventure possible.

Ben never saw the girl afterward, but their brief acquaintanceship was one that he will never forget.

At length, after an eventful sojourn in the metropolis, our hero determined to pay a visit to Syracuse, the scene of his early adventures. On his way to that city, he stopped off at the town of Little Falls, where occurred a very amusing incident.

As he was a stranger in the place, he sought the companionship to be found in a friendly and adjacent bar-room, and was there accosted by a fellow anxious to make a bet. The conditions of the bet were that each man should put up twenty-five dollars, and the one who first succeeded in knocking off the other's hat, should take the money. Believing that his own skill in the boxing art would make it an easy thing to win the bet, Ben squared off with the stranger; but all the science he could bring to bear did not enable him to knock off his opponent's head-gear. In about two minutes and a half, Ben's hat was sent spinning to the floor, and the Little Falls representative was accordingly entitled to the stakes.

Ben immediately put up another twenty-five dollars, which the stranger also won, and repeated the process until he had relieved our hero of one hundred and seventy-five dollars. Ben subsequently discovered that this shrewd boxer wore a set of false whiskers, encircling his chin, and the close-fitting cap which covered his head was fastened to these whiskers. Of course it was impossible to knock off the cap under these circumstances.

Fully conscious that he had been done for, Ben set his wits to work to hit upon some plan by which he might get even with the Little Faller. By the next morning he was ready with a proposition. He offered to bet the fellow who had done the boxing five hundred dollars that he could throw one hundred and thirty pounds across the Erie canal, which flows through Little Falls. As a matter of fact, Ben did not have a dollar left, but he had taken the landlord of the hotel into the scheme, making the latter the stakeholder. It was agreed between them that if the fellow could be induced to make the bet, the landlord should represent that Hogan had already put up the money.

"What sort of a weight do you want to throw?" asked the successful boxer.

"A dumb bell," answered Ben.

"But there isn't any one hundred and thirty pound dumb bell in the town!"

"Well," said Ben, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll bet you the five hundred dollars that I can throw you across the Erie canal!"

"I'll bet you can't!" was the prompt rejoinder.

"All right!" exclaimed Ben. "We'll make the trial, and if I fail, the one who gives out first and wants to stop shall lose his money."

This was agreed to by the stranger, who put up his five hundred dollars, and with the landlord and Ben, proceeded to the canal.

It was a chilly day, and the water was anything but inviting. The man of course had counted upon being pitched in to the canal, but he had also reckoned that he could stand the ducking longer than Ben could stand the throwing. That was where he made a mistake. Hogan seized hold of the chap, who weighed about one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and pitched him head foremost into the chilling water. He came out with his teeth chattering and his skin blue.

"That's one failure!" exclaimed Ben, "but never mind; I shall get you across, yet. There's nothing like patience in these things."

Thereupon he seized hold of his victim again, and pitched him a second time into the water. Shaking as if he had the ague, the fellow pulled himself out, while the landlord and Ben roared with laughter. A third time Hogan picked up the unfortunate man, and threw him out into the canal. By this time he was pretty nearly frozen to death, and when he got out, he swore he wouldn't be thrown in again if he could win ten times five hundred dollars. Ben and the landlord divided the stakes, and Hogan left Little Falls seventy-five dollars ahead, in spite of the unfortunate boxing contest.

The ups and downs of an adventurer's life found an illustration in the journey to Syracuse. A couple of railroad sharpers, who made a living by betting on sure things, came up to Ben on the train, and told him they had a chance to bleed a "sucker," but they needed a little ready money to do it. Would Ben go them two hundred or two hundred and fifty dollars for about half an hour? They would stand in with him evenly for all they made. Ben gave the fellows his money, and they went forward to another car to operate upon the "sucker."

After waiting half an hour for their return, Ben got a little uneasy, and went in search of his friends. He found that they had jumped the train, and his two hundred and fifty dollars had gone where the woodbine twineth. Then it was that he saw the "sucker" not a very desirable kind of fish to be.