fided in him. Jo always declared that they were expecting to “just go down into the ground among the dead folks,” and in some mysterious way be carried off, and their fears had almost got the better of their longings for liberty, when they were joyfully relieved by the conductor, who told them that they were to follow the turnpike until they came near the railroad, then “take the R. R. track, passing around stations in the fields and woods, find the track again, and go on until you see a man standing in the middle of the track; then stop and listen, and if you hear him say ‘Ben’ go to him and do as he tells you.” He then appointed Harry as their conductor, told them to walk fast, as they had thirty miles to go, showed them the north star and its bearings upon their route, shook hands, and with quivering lips, bade them God speed. They were soon out of his sight.
They traveled by starlight until about midnight, when clouds obscured the stars, and in passing around a village, they got bewildered and lost. After wandering in the fields and woods an hour or more, they stopped to consult about their course, and found that there were five different directions, each of which was strenuously contended for as the way to go, and there would probably have been six ways had there been another man in their party. They were almost in despair when the clouds broke away, and Harry said, “Now I find him.” Harry’s education consisted of one lesson in astronomy, viz.: how to. find the north star by the bearing of the constellation called the “great bear.” Harry soon discovered it, and said in low tones, “dis am de way, know it all de time, dat am de old norf,” pointing at the star. It happened, however, to be Kate instead of Harry, that had guessed right.
So much time had been lost, that, as Jo said, “de chickens began to crow” before they discovered “Ben”
