Page:Left to Themselves (1891).djvu/86

 and straighten it all out with him the next morning."

"I wonder what he'll say?" queried Gerald.

"Well, he might advise us to look before we leap another time," laughed Philip.

The sun had set and fog was turning into a drizzle as they crossed the flat, salt meadows west of Bergen Hill and left the draw-bridges of the sinuous Hackensack behind them. It was well that Philip had expressly warned Mr. Hilliard not to wait for them in Jersey City, for he suddenly discovered that the freight of the road did not go to the same terminus as the passenger trains, and that he and Gerald would land in New York a good distance up-town. The North River was wrapped in a thick mist as they made their sluggish passage across; the rain fell steadily, and Touchtone was glad when they landed and set out for Mr. Hilliard's apartment as fast as the only cab they could find might be made to rattle. "You are pretty well used up, aren't you?" he said to Gerald, putting his arm along the tired boy's shoulder. "Never mind; we'll be there safe and sound presently."

Madison Avenue reached, Philip counted the