It doesn't seem as if you were going away, Ben," said Tony.

"I can't hardly realize it myself, Tony."

"It's a great responsibility, Benjamin," said his aunt, beginning to
look serious. "Suppose the cars run off the track."

"I guess they won't, Aunt Jane."

"I was reading of an accident out West only yesterday."

"I am not going out West, Aunt Jane. I guess I'll reach New York
right side up with care."

"What an expression, Benjamin!"

Ben laughed.

"Only boys' talk, aunty. It means all right."

"Don't you go on the steamboat, too, Benjamin?"

"I guess so."

"The boiler may explode."

"If everybody thought that, nobody would travel, Aunt Jane. It
doesn't happen once in a thousand times."

At last Ben got ready.

He was very much excited, but his excitement was of a
pleasurable kind. One his way to the hotel, he met James
Watson.

"Where ware you going, all dressed up, Ben?"

"Going to New York," answered Ben proudly.

"You're only foolin'!"

"No, I'm not. I'm going to New York by the twelve-o'clock
train."

"What for?" asked James astonished.

"To escort a lady home," answered Ben. "She wants an
able-bodied escort, that's used to traveling."

James was very much surprised, and also a little incredulous,
but he was finally convinced that Benn was in earnest.

"I wish I were in your shoes," he said enviously. "There's
nothing I'd like better than going to New York. You're a
lucky boy!"

Ben quite agreed with him.

Chapter XI

In New York

Of the journey to New York I do not purpose to speak. Ben enjoyed
it extremely, for it gave him his first view of the great world. As he
whirled by town after town and city after city, and reflected how small,
after all, was the distance on the map between Milltown and New
York, he got a new idea of the size of the world.

"What are you thinking about, Ben?" asked Mr. Manning, observing
that our hero looked thoughtful.

"I was thinking how large the world is, sir."

"Didn't you ever think of that before?"

"No, sir; I have always lived in Milltown. I don't think I was ever ten
miles from home before."

"Then your ideas were necessarily contracted. One advantage of
travel is, that it broadens our views, not only as regards distance,
but also of men and things."

Ben assented, though he did not fully understand his companion's
statement.

From time to time Ben asked questions of Mr. Manning; but after a
while that gent