When Lemuel
got up and walked away in reproving dignity, one of the hoydens
bounced into his place, and they both sent a cry of derision after
him. But Lemuel would not give them the satisfaction of letting them
know that he heard them, and at the same time he was not going to
let them suppose that they had driven him away. He went very slowly
down to the street where a great many horse-cars were passing to and
fro, and waited for one marked "Fitchburg, Lowell, and Eastern
Depots." He was not going to take it; but he meant to follow it on
its way to those stations, in the neighbourhood of which was the
hotel where he had left his travelling-bag. He had told them that he
might take a room there, or he might not; now since he had this
half-dollar extra he thought that he would stay for the night; it
probably would not be any cheaper at the other hotels.
He ran against a good many people in trying to keep the car in
sight, but by leaving the sidewalk from time to time where it was
most crowded, he managed not to fall very much behind; the worst was
that the track went crooking and turning about so much in different
streets, that he began to lose faith in its direction, and to be
afraid, in spite of the sign on its side, that the car was not going
to the depots after all. But it came in sight of them at last, and
then Lemuel, blown with the chase but secure of his ground, stopped
and rested himself against the side of a wall to get his breath.
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