"It isn't too late yet," thought the runaway, settling back in his chair, and holding the letter off at arms' length. "If I leave town this afternoon by rail, I can be in St. Louis to-morrow morning, and I have half a notion—no, I haven't, either. Father would give me a regular overhauling for going away on that barge without first asking his permission (I wasn't fool enough to do that, for I know he would have said 'no' most emphatically), and what excuse could I make for dodging the tug? No, sir; this thing has gone so far that there's no backing out now."
As the boy said this he drew his hand hastily across his eyes, folded and addressed the letter, and placed it into the account book, which he put into his pocket. It was necessary that the book should go with the letter, so that Mr. Vandegriff might know how many bushels of coal the Armada had taken from the barge.
"I suppose there is a bank in this city?" said he, as he approached the clerk's counter.
"Yes, sir," was the reply; "it is in the block up the levee."
"Where is the express office?"
"Two doors this side of the bank; same block."
After thanking the clerk for this information, Tony hurried away. He had no trouble in finding the bank, and after he had counted out fifty dollars of Mr. Vandegriff's money, he handed the rest, together with the letter, to the cashier, with the request that he would give him a check on St. Louis for it, made payable to the person whose name was on the envelope. The cashier complied, and when Tony had placed the check in the letter, and the letter in the account book, he started back for the express office. The clerk he found there was accommodating enough to supply him with paper and twine, and when he had wrapped the book and its contents up in a neat package, and the clerk had further secured it by sealing it with wax, Tony paid the charges on it and went out.
"That's done," said he, as he crossed the railroad track and bent his steps toward the nearest wharf-boat, "and all I have to do now is, to find a boat that is going down the river."
Just then the afternoon train came in from the north, and the steamer lying alongside the wharf-boat began to whistle. Toward her the boy directed his course; and ten minutes later, he was seated on the boiler-deck with his chair tipped back, his feet on the railing, his thumbs hooked in the armholes of his vest, and a ticket for Memphis in his pocket. When he reached that city, he took passage on a steamer bound for New Orleans, at which place he arrived early in the morning. He stayed on board the boat long enough to get his breakfast, and then sauntered out to take a look at things along the river. He had never been in the city before, and and if he had come there under different circumstances, he would have been glad to spend a day or two in seeing the sights; but he was too full of his idea of becoming a sailor, to waste any time in that way. The sooner he found a chance to ship, the sooner he would be on the ocean.
A few minutes after he left the steamer, he obtained his first view of a sea-going vessel. Of course, he was disappointed in her; we generally are disappointed, when we see for the first time something of which we have read and heard a great deal, and which we have often longed to examine for ourselves. She was not near as large as he had expected to find her; and there were many things about her, that did not suit Tony's idea of marine architecture. While he stood on the wharf looking at her, and wondering if anybody would order him ashore if he should step aboard to take a closer view of her, he became aware that he was an object of interest to a boy a little older than himself, who was leaning over the rail, staring at Tony as hard as the latter was staring at the vessel. He was a sailor, that was plain enough to be seen; and he might have been a very good-looking one too, if he had taken a little more pains with his personal appearance. He wore a tarpaulin, which was pushed as far back on his head as it could go without falling off; a blue flannel shirt with a wide collar, and trowsers of the same material, which were thrust into a pair of heavy boots. His face was almost copper-colored; and his hands, which were large and bony, were profusely tattooed with India ink. He chewed tobacco, too, and threw away a big quid before addressing Tony.