CHAPTER XX
Now, don't you go an' let on to your Aunt Sue, Lem,” Harvey told the boy that night when Lem came begging to be taken back. “You just keep your mouth shut, an' in a week or so you come to Burlin'ton an' hunt me up. You won't have no trouble findin' where the post-office in Burlin'ton is, an' when you git there you go to the window, an' ask if there's a letter for Lemuel Redding. It'll tell you where to find me, an' then you come to where it says.”
“I'd ruther go with you,” Lem said wistfully. “I ain't ever been on a train. I don't know how to do on a train.”
“You don't need to do nohow. You buy a ticket an' you git on the train an' sit down in a seat. That's all you do. When the conductor comes around, you hand him your ticket an' let him punch a hole in it, an' when you git to Burlin'ton you ask where the post-office is. That's all there is to it.”
“Why can't I go with you, pop? I'm sort o' scared of it.”
“I can't take no chances, Lem. If we was to go together, man an' boy, your aunt would sure think I took you an' she would n't rest until she fetched us back. She's got to think you've runned away. On your own hook. I got to keep clear of you awhile. If she got a notion I'd stole you out o' pawn she'd raise the dod-basted dickens against me. She'd make me hand over every red cent I've got, an' I need it to start the new business I aim to go into once I get away from here.”
He took a fat roll of bills from his pocket. “I'm goin' to give you twenty-five dollars, Lem,” he said solemnly. “That's more'n enough to see you through easy. Don't you lose it. An' don't you ever let on I give it to you.”
“I won't,” Lem promised.