In answer to Uncle Phin’s anxious inquiry as to whether he knew of any work to be had in that neighborhood, the gentleman said he did not. Then, with a little hesitation, he added that if Arthur cared to come up to the hotel that evening, and read a story out of his book at a children’s entertainment they were going to have, he would give him a dollar.
Glancing sadly down at his ragged clothes, the boy said he should like ever so much to do so, but did not see how he could.
Thereupon the gentleman, understanding the glance, said that his present costume was so picturesque that he wanted him to come just as he was, ragged, barefooted, and all. So Arthur went, being more proud of his ability to earn a whole dollar than he was ashamed of his appearance, and his reading was such a success that all the people were anxious to know who he was.
When it was over, the kind gentleman invited him to his room, where Arthur found a complete suit of the other boy’s clothes, including shoes, stockings, and a round cap, which the gentleman said were for him, and insisted upon his putting on at once.
So the boy was again dressed, and made to feel like a young gentleman; and, when he reappeared down-stairs, nobody knew him, at first, for the one who had read to them.
The next day a gay party of these hotel guests chartered the Ark for an excursion, and drifted down the river on her, in company with Arthur and Uncle Phin and Rusty, to a point about five miles below the village, where carriages were waiting to take them back. For this use of the boat they paid two dollars, besides leaving enough provisions behind them to last our friends for several days.
By the kind gentleman, who appeared greatly interested in their journey, Arthur and Uncle Phin were advised to sell their boat in Pittsburgh, as that would offer a better market than points farther on, and to take the cars from there.
So the whole month of October passed before the happy voyage was ended, and, late one afternoon in November, the Ark was moored at the mouth of a small creek on the outskirts of the city of Pittsburgh. It was a region of iron-works, of foundries, furnaces, and rolling mills, a place of noise and heat, and never-ending weariness. A dense cloud of black smoke hung low above it that still November evening, and, though the air was comparatively pure where the boat was moored, its pall-like presence seemed to cast a foreboding of evil days over the hearts of our travellers. As the darkness drew on, the smoke clouds were illumined by a strange, lurid, glare like that of a great volcano. It was a weirdly beautiful sight; but it filled them with uneasiness; and, after watching it for a while, they were glad to enter their cosey little cabin, and close it to all outside influences.