Joe had made up his mind to take the midnight freight that stopped at Bedford, and which arrived in Lorilard some time in the early morning. Joe was not particular as to time.
“I’ll have to save what money I have,” thought the boy, “so I won’t have any to waste on railroad fare. A freight car will suit me.”
Joe Strong walked on through the dark and silent streets. He kept on the grass as much as possible, for his footsteps rang out loudly in the quietness, and Joe knew that “Hen” Sylvester and Tim Donovan, the two policemen of Bedford, did not spend quite all the night in sleep.
“I just wouldn’t like ’em to see me going away like this,” thought Joe. “They’d be sure to stop and ask me questions. And if I make too much noise walking on the sidewalks they may hear me. It’s me for the green grass.”
And so he went on until he came to the Simpson house. Joe there came to a pause, and looked at the dwelling. No light showed.
“Guess they’re all asleep,” he mused. “I wouldn’t want any of the family to see me sneaking up and leaving a bundle on the steps. They might take me for a burglar, and raise a row.”
Silently and cautiously he opened the front gate, and tiptoed up the brick walk, leaving his valise outside. He laid the suit of clothes, with a little note he had written, in plain view on the door-step, and then with a whispered good-bye to Tom, which that sound-sleeping lad did not hear, Joe set off again.
“Now I’m really on my way,” he told himself. “The whole world lies before me, as we used to see in our school readers, and I have my own fortune to make. And I hope I begin to make it soon,” mused the lad, whimsically. “At least I hope Dame Fortune allows me to draw a few dollars a week in advance.”
As Joe turned into a street that led to the freight station and caught sight of what was left standing of the fireworks factory, he could but think of the stirring events in which he had played such a prominent part—the discussion with his chums of the professor’s tricks, the alarm of the explosion, the swimming of the creek, and the sensational rescue of Professor Rosello.
There was no sign of the fire as Joe passed the scene of it now. It had all died out, and the main building was surrounded by heaps of ashes which marked where the smaller structures had stood.