“Thar ain’t no doubt about it,” declared the trapper. “You’re an extry bright lad, from what I’ve seed of you. An’, bein’ brought up in Bangor, I reckon New York won’t scare you. It’s a leetle bigger town, from what I’ve heard.”
Jerry and the agent smiled at each other.
“You must telegraph back what luck you have,” Mowry went on. “An’ when you’ve fixed things an’ hed Raikes arrested, you an’ the lawyer chap hed better come up here by the first train.”
“Unless the boys are rescued in the meantime,” added the agent. “We can let you know about that by wire. It’s barely possible that Raikes is on his way back, so I will have all the stations in this vicinity watched.”
“That’s a good idee,” approved the trapper. “He’ll likely come right to Kingman, since this is the nearest point to the cabin. While the lad’s in New York I’ll go up country ag’in, an’ see how them fellers are makin’ out with their hunt.”
After a further discussion of a few minutes, the matter was definitely settled. The agent brought his knowledge of the different railway lines into practical use, and the trapper produced the sum of fifty dollars from a dirty buckskin belt.
“That oughter last you, lad,” he said. “I reckon the lawyer chap will pay me back one o’ these days.”
There was a train westward at two o’clock that afternoon, and when it steamed away from the Kingman station Jerry was among its passengers. He waved his hand at Mowry and the agent as long as he could see them.
Then the boy settled down in the seat, and tried to realize the wonderful thing that had happened to him. He was actually on the way to New York—the great city that Brick had described in such glowing terms. Already the past seemed but a shadowy dream. Had he actually lived through those stirring adventures in the Maine woods?
By degrees his mind grew more composed, and he settled his thoughts on the object of his journey. He was quickly roused by the arrival of the train at Mattawamkeag. Here he purchased a ticket to Bangor, and made connection with another train on the Maine Central Railway.