crambled out of the car! 'Pon my word, I never saw anything so
comical."

Here the stranger turned again and shot another quick glance, this
time from indignant eyes, and his lips parted as if about to utter a
stern reproof. But he did not speak. Some hidden motive withheld him.

We will now leave Albert and his fellow travelers, and follow good
Gideon Randal.

It was quite dark when he stepped from the cars, and he inquired of a
man at the station, "Can you tell me where I can find Mr. Aaron
Harrington?"

"There's no such man living here, to my knowledge," was the reply.

"What, isn't this Harrowtown?" asked Mr. Randal in great
consternation.

"No, it is Whipple Village."

"Then I got out at the wrong station. What shall I do?" in a voice of
deep distress.

"Go right to the hotel and stay till the train goes in the morning,"
said the man, pleasantly.

There was no alternative, Mr. Randal passed a restless night at the
hotel, and at an early hour he was again at the station, waiting for
the train. His face was pale, and his eye wild and anxious. "The stage
broke down, and I missed the first train," thought he, "and then that
boy told me to get out here. I've made a bad beginning, and I'm afraid
this trip will have a bad ending."

There were other passengers walking to and fro on the platform,
waiting for the cars to come.

One was a plain-featured, honest-looking boy, who had been accompanied
to the station by his mother. Just before his mother bade him good by,
she said, "Lyman, look at that pale, sad, old man. I don't believe he
is used to traveling. Perhaps you can help him along."

Soon a loud, prolonged whistle was heard. The cars were coming.

"Allow me to assist you, sir," said Lyman Dean to Mr. Randal, as the
train stopped; and he took hold of his arm, and guided him into a car
to a seat.

"Thank you, my boy. I'm getting old and clumsy, and a little help from
a young hand comes timely. Where are you going, if I may ask?"

"To Harrowtown, sir. I saw an advertisement for a boy in a store, and
I'm going to try to get the situation. My name is Lyman Dean."

"Ah? I'm sure I wish you success, Lyman, for I believe you're a good
boy. You are going to the same place I am. I want to find Aaron
Harrington, but I've had two mishaps. I don't know what's coming
next."

"I'll show you right where his office is. I've been in Harrowtown a
good many times."

Half an hour later, the brakeman shouted the na