You have certainly had some wonderful
experiences," he said, when Archie had finished, "and I can appreciate
your anxiety to leave school. I had that desire myself when I was a boy
of about fifteen, but my father succeeded in making me change my opinion
on the subject, and without much argument, unless you can call an
ox-team and a stony pasture an argument. I had been asking to stay
at home from school for a long time. I said that I was too old to be
sitting there with a lot of girls and some younger boys, and that I
wanted to work. Finally, my father said that I could stay at home if I
cared to, and that he would let me work on the farm for a time. I was
overjoyed, of course, at the prospect of staying out of school.

"The next morning I was awakened at four o'clock, and had to swallow my
breakfast in a hurry, because I was late, my father said. Then he took
me out to the barn and ordered me to hitch up the ox-team, and when this
was done he took me out to a pasture lot and told me to pick up all the
boulders there. Well, I picked up boulders all day long, and by evening
my back and arms were so sore I could hardly move them. I was too tired
to eat supper, and was soon asleep in bed. When my father awoke me at
four the next morning, I told him to let me alone and that I was going
back to school. After that I was content to stay in school, and said
nothing more about leaving until I had finished the course and was ready
to go to college."

And Archie thought it very queer that such a famous man should have had
such experiences when a boy. He remained in the drawing-room for more
than an hour, and when he left he felt perfectly sure that he had been
talking with the most charming man in the world.

The train sped on and on, and when daylight came the next morning they
were passing through Northern Ohio. Early in the afternoon they reached
a great smoky metropolis, spread out for miles over the plains. Archie
knew that this must be Chicago, and he decided, as this was Saturday,
and the steamer wouldn't leave San Francisco until the next Friday, that
he would have time to remain here over Sunday. So he left the train at
the station in Pacific Avenue, and, Finding a hotel near the station, he
started out to see something of the city famous for its dirt and for the
World's Fair, two widely different things.

CHAPTER XIII.

SAN FRANCISCO--THE TRANSPORT GONE--WORKING HIS WAY TO HONOLULU BY
PEELING VEGETABLES ON