“Half an hour or so!” Josiah repeated in dismay.
“Yes, I allow it will take that long, and if you don’t stir yourself right lively you won’t get there before dark.”
Once more Josiah lifted the huge valise, and, following the direction pointed out by the officer, pursued his weary way with a heart quite as heavy as the burden in his hand, because of the possibility of being lost in the crowded streets, where, as he believed, so many terrible deeds of violence were perpetrated upon unsuspecting travelers.
CHAPTER III.
A FRIEND IN NEED.
“I oughter gone home,” Josiah said to himself as he trudged slowly along, his burden growing heavier each moment. “Now it begins to look as if I stood a good chance of being lost, and what’ll become of me if I don’t find Tom and Bob before dark?”
He made no attempt to answer his own question, but resolved to follow implicitly the directions given by the policeman, taking advantage of every opportunity to note the time, in order that he might not walk a single minute less than the full number set by the officer.
The half-hour came to an end, however, and the dark shadows of evening were beginning to lengthen, much to the young traveler’s uneasiness, when he arrived at an open square, at one end of which could be seen a number of cabs, and on either side horse-car after horse-car until Josiah fancied all of these vehicles ever made had been brought here for inspection.
He halted.
It was easier to wait for a policeman than to search for one; and he remained at what he afterward learned was the junction of the Bowery and Chatham Square, a long while without seeing any guardians of the peace.
A short distance below his halting-place, gaudy transparencies already lighted up the dime museums, and along the edge of the sidewalk was a row of street vendors, who were crying their wares in such a variety of tones as to make a most discordant noise.