Johnnie Jones was lost, completely lost.  He looked up the street, he looked down the street, and then he looked across the street, but not one of the houses was his home.  Johnnie Jones did not like being lost.  He had not seen his mother for a very long time, not since she had left him in the yard at play after they had returned from market.  He had been swinging on the front gate, when, suddenly, he heard the sound of music, and saw several people running down the street.

“Everyone must have forgotten to tell me that there was a circus,” he said to himself.  “I think I had better go see.”

Now Johnnie Jones was never allowed to leave the yard unless an older person was with him, but he did not think of that, as he opened the gate and ran out on the street to follow the gathering crowd.

When he reached the first corner everyone was hurrying on to the next, and Johnnie Jones hurried on, too.  Of course, however, he could not run as fast as older people, and very soon he was passed by the crowd.  Then, when he could no longer hear the music, he looked about him and knew that he was lost.

He was sorry that he had gone away from home.  He thought it must be about lunch time and he was very hungry.  Then he remembered that this was the day Mother had promised to take him to the park.  He would have cried, had he not been a brave little lad, and had he not known that a boy almost four is too old to cry, unless he is actually hurt.

He sat down on the curbstone, and wished and wished that some one would come to find him.

After a while he saw a policeman coming towards him from across the street.  He was a very tall policeman, but Johnnie Jones decided to speak to him.  His mother had often told him that policemen always take care of people, and help them whenever they can.  So he tipped his hat politely, and said, “Please, Mr. Policeman, will you find me?  Because I’m lost.”

The policeman smiled down at Johnnie Jones until Johnnie Jones smiled up at the policeman and forgot what a little boy he was.  Then the officer lifted him up in his strong arms, and asked him his name.  Johnnie Jones could tell him his name, but he could not tell him which way he had come from home, so they decided to go to the nearest drug-store and find the number of the house.

The policeman began to tell him stories about his own little boy whose name was Johnnie Green, and Johnnie Jones was so interested that he forgot to be tired.  Just before they reached the drug-store Johnnie Jones heard a dog barking.  He looked around, and there was the very dog that lived next door to him and played with him every day.

“Oh!” he said, “I know that dog!  He is Max, and he can find the way home.”  “You’ll take me home, won’t you, Max?” he asked the dog, who was so glad to see his little neighbor that he was trying his best to kiss him on the face.

“All right,” the big policeman said, “but I’ll come too, so I shall know where you live if you are ever lost again.”