The impatient boys spent another half-hour in walking up and down their room, and then Leon declared he would wait no longer.
At his suggestion, Frank went out to the gate to reconnoitre, and when he had satisfied himself that the coast was clear, and that there was no danger of interruption, he announced the fact by a shrill whistle and walked slowly toward the house. When he entered the hall, Leon was ascending the stairs, with his recovered gun in his hands.
"I feel as though I had found a long-lost friend," said he, as he flourished the weapon over his head. "There'll be some astonished people in this house to-morrow."
The boys went back to their room, and when Leon's gun had been placed in its case, and the powder-flask and shot-pouch belonging to it had been packed away in one of the valises, they picked up their baggage, took their weapons under their arms, and went down the stairs.
They paused a moment on the threshold of the front door to make sure that there was no one passing along the street, and then, without a single feeling of regret, they turned their backs upon their home and upon the friends they never expected or even wished to see again, and hurried away.
The little town of Franklin, toward which they bent their steps, was situated on the railroad, seven miles west of Eaton. It was there that they intended to purchase tickets and board the cars. By this piece of strategy they hoped to avoid meeting anybody who might recognize them.
The platform of the depot in Eaton was always crowded at "train time," and if they had been seen loitering about there with their guns and valises in their hands, they might have been asked some questions that they did not care to answer.
Leon led the way, avoiding the principal streets as much as he could, and at the end of an hour the runaways struck the main road, about two miles above the village.
Settling down into a steady walk, they moved briskly along toward Franklin, but before they had gone many rods they heard a wagon coming up behind them.
"Let's wait and ask him to give us a ride," said Frank. "He is going our way."