Cleveland looked at him in astonishment.
"Tommy, are you telling me the truth?"
"Truth positive, Benjamin!" With an endorsing nod of the head. "Don't you believe me?"
Ben reflected a moment before he answered, and when he did the words came slow, as though he was trying to persuade himself that he meant what he said.
"Yes, Tommy—I believe you. But I was never before so mistaken in my life. Never in my life."
"It was a queer delusion," returned Tom; and there the matter dropped.
"And which way now, friend Ben? You have reached your destination, your pilgrimage is over, there's to be a fatted calf, a purple robe and a gold ring! Is that the programme?"
"No, not quite," answered Ben, smiling. "The fact is my pilgrimage is only half over, Tommy. I am going to New Orleans."
"To New Orleans! Why you told me St. Louis!" cried the boy in surprise.
"Very well, and am I not come to St. Louis?"