"Which way are you travelling?" asked Ben.
"I go west in the morning. Which direction are you taking?"
"I am going to St. Louis," answered Cleveland.
"Very well, we will go together. That suits me. I thought it would be easiest to get on a coal fleet and go down the river with it, but I find the fleet is hung up here for want of water, and there is no telling when the river will raise. So we had best take the road for it," observed the stranger.
"Have you ever been to St. Louis?" inquired Ben.
"Oh, yes," replied he, "several times."
"Tramped it?"
"Tramped it."
"But," hesitatingly suggested Ben, "you appear to be a man of intelligence, I should think you could do better than leading the life of a tramp."
"Think nothing of the sort," responded the stranger. "A man in this world does just what he is fitted for. Habits, that I need not specify, have drifted me into this life, and I am becoming confirmed in it."