"But we're ready for all that," Rudolph ventured to interpose. "We don't expect to make our fortunes without working for them."
"Well, I must say I admire your pluck," returned the other; "but wait till you hear more. When you arrive in New York, in the course of a month or so after leaving Hamburg, what are you going to do then?"
"Go to work," promptly responded Albert.
"But at what?"
At this question both boys hesitated, and their friend suggested hod-carrying, brick-laying, loading ships, or car-driving.
Now this list was not a very attractive one, nor were these the sort of accomplishments on which the ambitious youths had reckoned. Where should they board, who would befriend them in a strange land, or what were they to do when their clothes wore out and they had no money with which to buy new?
These were pointed questions, and so sharply did the lads' foreign counsellor apply them, that at ten minutes to six Albert drew forth the satchel from its place of concealment, and Rudolph expressed his determination of becoming an officer in the German army.
Five minutes later the train came along, and after a hearty grasp of the hand to each of them, Edward Sharring stepped into a second-class carriage, and was soon whirling off to Hanover.
Luckily the would-be runaways had decided to delay purchasing their tickets until after they had left the town, so there was nothing lost by their honorable "backing out."
"You didn't count the Hausewitz station as one of the air-tight compartments, did you, Rudolph?" said Albert, as the two wended their way home to supper.