"Where
did you get it?"

"I bought it," answered Joe.

"I shall go to California, after all!" thought our hero exultingly.

CHAPTER IX

THE FIRST DAY ON BOARD

"We will look up our stateroom first, Joe," said his new friend. "It
ought to be a good one."

The stateroom proved to be No. 16, very well located and spacious for
a stateroom. But to Joe it seemed very small for two persons. He
was an inexperienced traveler and did not understand that life on
board ship is widely different from life on shore. His companion had
been to Europe and was used to steamer life.

"I think, Joe," said he, "that I shall put you in the top berth. The
lower berth is considered more desirable, but I claim it on the score
of age and infirmity."

"You don't look very old, or infirm," said Joe.

"I am twenty-three. And you?"

"Fifteen--nearly sixteen."

"I have a stateroom trunk, which will just slip in under my berth.
Where is your luggage?"

Joe looked embarrassed.

"I don't know but you will feel ashamed of me," he said; "but the
only extra clothes I have are tied up in this handkerchief."

Charles Folsom whistled.

"Well," said he, "you are poorly provided. What have you got inside?"

"A couple of shirts, three collars, two handkerchiefs, and a pair of
stockings."

"And you are going a journey of thousands of miles! But never mind,"
he said kindly. "I am not much larger than you, and, if you need it,
I can lend you. Once in California, you will have less trouble than
if you were loaded down with clothes. I must get you to tell me your
story when there is time."

They came on deck just in time to see the steamer swing out of the
dock.

There were some of the passengers with sober faces. They had bidden
farewell to friends and relatives whom they might not see for
years--perhaps never again. They were going to a new country, where
hardships undoubtedly awaited them, and where they must take their
chances of health and success. Some, too, feared seasickness, a
malady justly dreaded by all who have ever felt its prostrating
effects. But Joe only felt joyful exhilaration.

"You look happy, Joe," said young Folsom.

"I feel so," said Joe.

"Are you hoping to make your fortune in California?"

"I am hoping to make a living," said Joe.

"Didn't you make a living here at home?"

"A poor living, with no prospects ahead. I didn't mind hard work and
poor clothes, if there had been a prospect