Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/28

8 Walter said he was going to Boston. I wanted to follow Ben to New York, but when I ran away, my uncle came after me, and I hid in a freight car partly filled with boxes of mineral water, and before I knew it I was locked in and rolling westward at the rate of thirty miles an hour. Try my best, I couldn't get out nor make anybody hear me, and I should have starved to death if it hadn't been for the mineral water and a lot of eating that I had along, for I had expected to tramp to New York."

"And when you reached San Francisco, you shipped on the Rescue?"

"Not right away. I worked at several odd jobs, hoping to earn enough to pay my way to New York. Then one day I fell in with Captain Morgan, and took the notion to ship to Honolulu and back, and here I am—and likely to stay for a while," concluded Larry.

"How did you like the water?"

"First rate. You see, I was rather used to it—for I was around the lake at home a good deal. But I should like to hear from my brothers."

"Have you tried to reach them by letters?"

"Yes; I wrote to New York and Boston from San Francisco, and also from Honolulu, as soon as I