“I reckon that’s where they’re waitin’; an’ I’ve been standin’ here like a bump on a log, showin’ folks jest how green I am.”
Although Josiah was not ashamed of living at Berry’s Corner, he hoped it might be possible to pass as a city boy, for he had a certain dread of appearing “countrified.”
In order to prevent any possibility of this, he decided not to ask a single question relative to locations; but to follow in the direction taken by his fellow-passengers half an hour previous.
A sign-board bearing the name “Jersey City” attracted his attention; and he argued with himself that since this was the point where he was to meet the boys, he could not go astray by pursuing the path thus marked out.
The natural result was that he found himself in the street opposite Taylor’s Hotel, almost deafened by the clatter of wheels, the cries of street vendors, and bewildered by the apparently inextricable tangle of vehicles.
Tom and Bob were nowhere to be seen.
Standing with his back against an awning-post and his valise at his feet, he spent another long, weary time of waiting; but all in vain.
A feeling of utter desolation and homesickness came over him, and he began to question whether his proper course would not be to return to the farm immediately.
A desire to be free from the bewildering bustle prompted him to do so; but the wish to see the big city of which he had heard so much, overbalanced the homesickness.
Two hours had elapsed since he alighted from the train, and there was no longer any good reason to believe his friends’ non-appearance the result of accidental delay.