for a moment, and then led
him to the rail of the boat.

"Look back there," he said. "Yonder's the Battery. You ought to have
kept on. It's too much for me how you ever got aboard of this 'ere
boat without knowing it!" And he went on with a long string of
explanations, of which Jack understood about half, with the help of
what he recalled from his guide-book. All the while, however, they
were having a sail across the beautiful bay, and little by little Jack
made up his mind not to care.

"I've made a mistake and slipped right out of the city," he said to
himself, "about as soon as I got in! But maybe I can slip back again
this evening."

"About the greenest bumpkin I've seen for an age," thought the little
man, as he stood and looked at Jack. "It'll take all sorts of blunders
to teach him. He is younger than he looks, too. Anyway, this sail
won't hurt him a bit."

That was precisely Jack's conclusion long before the swift voyage ended
and he walked off the ferry-boat upon the solid ground of Staten Island.

CHAPTER XIV.

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES.

When Jack Ogden left the Staten Island ferry-boat, he felt somewhat as
if he had made an unexpected voyage to China, and perhaps might never
return to his own country. It was late in the afternoon, and he had
been told by the little man that the ferry-boat would wait an hour and
a half before the return voyage.

"I won't lose sight of her," said Jack, thoughtfully. "No running
around for me this time!"

He did not move about at all. He sat upon an old box, in front of a
closed grocery store, near the ferry-house, deciding to watch and wait
until the boat started.

"Dullest time I ever had!" he thought; "and it will cost me six cents
to get back. You have to pay something everywhere you go. I wish that
boat was ready to go now."

It was not ready, and it seemed as if it never would be; meanwhile the
Crofield boy sat there on the box and studied the ferry-boat business.
He had learned something of it from his guide-book, but he understood
it all before the gates opened.

He had not learned much concerning any part of Staten Island, beyond
what he already knew from the map; but shortly after he had paid his
fare, he began to learn something about the bay and the lower end of
New York.

"I'm glad to be on board again," he said, as he walked through the long
cabin to the open deck forward. In a few minutes more he drew a long
breath and exclaimed