“But I dragged her along, an’ it ain’t any more’n fair I should pay for it.”
“I might have let you, if you’d got anything out of the woodchuck skins; but they went so awful cheap, I reckon you’ll need all the money you’ve got before your father comes.”
Josiah urged the acceptance of the coins; but all to no purpose, and the young gentleman from Berry’s Corner felt more disturbed in mind than ever as they walked across the gang-plank, for he was aware that by his invitation the amount which Tom and Bob had laid aside for the excursion would be sensibly reduced.
The music of the Italian band, the steamer (for, with the exception of the ferry-boat, he had never been on board one before), as well as the crowds of people, soon served to drive from Josiah’s mind everything save that which was passing immediately before him, and during the trip to the Island he was in a state of surprise and delight amounting almost to bewilderment.
His first sensations were of fear lest the boat, crowded to what he fancied was a dangerous extent, would sink beneath her heavy cargo; but since nothing of the kind happened immediately after leaving the dock, he recovered from his alarm, and began to think it possible she might be seaworthy, although he was confident a dozen more people would swamp her.
The different craft on the river, or lying at the docks, the tooting of whistles, and the confusion on the decks, caused it to seem as if he was in a different world from that in which he had lived while on the farm, and more than once he whispered to Sadie:—
“I’d be willin’ to go home this very minute, if mother an’ father could be here long enough to see these things. I’ve heard ’bout vessels; but I didn’t b’lieve there could be so many in the world, an’ as for water, why the brook at the farm ain’t anywhere!”
Bill Foss, afraid of being suspected as one of the party, remained quite a distance from the others, which forced either Tom or Bob to stay with him in order to play the part of host, therefore both of them were not near Josiah during the entire trip, as they would have preferred; but this enforced absence did not prevent him from seeing all the sights brought into view during the passage, and when they finally arrived at their destination he had a better idea of the size of New York harbor than ever before.
Once on the dock the question arose as to how to begin what Tom and Bob intended should be a “dizzy round of pleasure.”
Bill was quite as much averse to being seen with “a girl in the crowd,” as while in New York; and for a short time the hosts were sadly at a loss to know how the entertainment could be conducted, in order to give the proper amount of attention to each of their guests.