"We'll go to a good hotel," said Tom, "and enjoy ourselves as long as
we have to wait for the steamer."

CHAPTER IX

"THAT LOOKED LIKE ANDY!"

What seemed at first as if it was going to be a tedious time of
waiting, proved to be a delightful experience, for our friends found
much to occupy their attention in New York.

Tom and Ned went to several theatrical performances, and wanted Mr.
Damon to go with them, but the odd man said he wanted to visit
several museums and other places of historical interest, so, while
he was browsing around that way, the boys went to Bronx Park, and to
Central Park, to look at the animals, and otherwise enjoy
themselves.

Eradicate put in his time in his own way. Much of it was spent in
restaurants where chicken and pork chops figured largely on the
bills of fare, for Tom had plentifully supplied the colored man with
money, and did not ask an accounting.

"What else do you do besides eat, Rad?" asked Ned with a laugh, the
second day of their stay in New York.

"I jest natchally looks in de jewelery store windows," replied
Eradicate with a grin on his honest black face. "I looks at all de
gold ornaments, an' I tries t' figger out how much better mah golden
images am gwine t' be."

"But don't you go in, and ask what a gold image the size of a man
would be worth!" cautioned Tom. "The jeweler might think you were
crazy, and he might suspect something."

"No, Massa Tom, I won't do nuffin laik dat," promised Eradicate.
"But, Massa Tom, how much DOES yo' 'spect a image laik dat WOULD be
worth?"

"Haven't the least idea, Rad. Enough, though, to make you rich for
the rest of your life."

"Good land a' massy!" gasped Eradicate, and he spent several hours
trying to do sums in arithmetic on scraps of paper.

"Hurrah!" cried Tom, when, on the morning of the third day of their
enforced stay in New York, a letter was sent up to his room by the
hotel clerk.

"What's up?" asked Ned. "I didn't know that you sent Mary word that
you were here."

"I didn't, you old scout!" cried Tom. "This is from the steamship
company, saying that the steamer Maderia, on which we have taken
passage for Mexico, will sail to-night at high tide. That's the
stuff! At last we'll really get on our way."

"Bless my notebook!" cried Mr. Damon. "I hoped we'd stay at least
another day here. I haven't seen half enough in the museums."

"You'll see stranger things than in any museum when we get to the
unde