BOUND FOR AMERICA.

BY MATTHEW WHITE, JUN.

The clock in the castle had just sounded forth the hour of noon. It was in the little German town of Hausewitz, and the narrow, roughly paved street that ran in front of the High School was soon filled with students, all wearing tiny green caps set jauntily on the side of the head, and seemingly stuck there with mucilage.

"Yes, Albert," one of a pair was saying, as the two strolled off homeward together, "the time has come to carry out our plan."

"It has," solemnly responded the other, who was rather a delicate-looking youth with blue eyes and yellow hair. "Now or never; but which way shall we go?"

"Oh, I'll attend to that later, if you'll only say you're ready whenever I am;" and Rudolph Schweizer looked down upon his companion (who was a few inches shorter than himself) with a sort of majestic air that he no doubt thought eminently befitting the only son of one of the first lawyers in Hausewitz.

Before Albert could reply, some friends joined them, and the subject was dropped.

Now the project about which there was this touch of mystery was no less a one than that of emigrating to America, in order to escape serving in the army. The lads had selected the United States as their destination, because they imagined that there everybody speedily became possessed of fabulous wealth, as all the tourists from that country who put up for a night or two at the Golden Grape-vine Hotel seemed to be blessed with an unlimited supply of money.

They had been cherishing the scheme for months, and from having talked it over so often it had come to assume to them the proportions of an event that had almost grown into an actuality.

"Come around this afternoon after school, Albert," called out Rudolph, as the friends separated at the market-place. And thus, quarter past four found the two in young Schweizer's room in earnest consultation.

They agreed that the whole enterprise was to be conditional, and that no risks were to be run; that is, if the boys could find no opening at Hamburg for them to work their passage on some vessel to New York, they would return to Hausewitz again, and confess to only going as far as the sea-port, saying nothing about the grander scheme they had had in view.

"You see," explained Rudolph, "we'll divide our plan into air-tight compartments, so to speak, such as they have on the steamers: the first one from here to Hamburg, and the second from there to New York; for if within two weeks, say, after our arrival out there we are not on a straight road to making our fortunes, we can close up the other compartment, and work our way back again. We'll do the thing on first-class business principles, and not in the old-fashioned runaway-boy style. Now how much can you give toward the expenses of our journey to Hamburg? We'd better reckon in dollars, so as to be sure of how much we'll have left when we get to America. The fare from here, second class—"

"But why can't we go third class?" interrupted Albert. "We don't expect to meet any of our friends on the way—or at least it is to be hoped we sha'n't—and then we'd have so much more to help us along in New York."

"All right, then, we'll reckon on third," replied Rudolph, rather impressed by the stern common-sense displayed in the other's reasoning. "But you haven't told me yet how much you have."

After a short calculation, Albert announced as the result that he had saved up about fifteen dollars.

"Good! and I have twenty," exclaimed his friend. "The fare's only five apiece, so we'll have twenty-five left over when we go aboard."

"But we've got to get something to eat, and we must sleep somewhere," put in Albert.

"Oh! it won't take much for two or three meals; and as for sleeping, why, we're sure to find a ship before night, so all we'll have to do will be to tumble into our bunks. Don't you see how nicely it all comes out?" cried Rudolph, enthusiastically. "I can almost imagine myself already walking about the New York streets, with my hands in two pockets full of money, and taking first-cabin passage back again."

"But what do you suppose the folks'll say at home here?" again interposed Albert, who, notwithstanding his readiness to fall in with all his schoolmate's propositions, now and then allowed his own private scruples to come to the surface. "Besides, I don't believe we can come back after running away from the army."

"Don't call it 'running away,'" objected Rudolph. "We're simply going to seek our fortunes like the knights of the olden time, and we prefer to do it in a free country, that's all. Now, then, to details," and during the remainder of the afternoon the two boys were busily employed in making out a list of the articles they should select from among their possessions to stow away in the moderate-sized bag, the capacity of which was to be divided between them.

Now both these lads had kind parents, besides brothers and sisters, and in a manner of their own they were each attached to their respective families; but such considerations as "domestic affections," which was what Rudolph styled his sentimental feelings on the subject, they thought should have no weight where the matter of fortune was concerned.

The all-important day of departure at length arrived, and having succeeded in smuggling the satchel safely out of the house, the two young adventurers hurried through back streets to the station, intending to set out on the 5 p.m. train for Hamburg. On reaching the passengers' waiting-room, they shoved the tell-tale bag under one of the seats, and then went outside to walk up and down in as unconcerned a manner as they could assume.

Suddenly Albert clutched his friend by the arm, and exclaimed, "Look, Rudolph! I'm perfectly sure that fellow's an American"—indicating a youth of about their own age, who was coming from the other end of the platform toward them. "I can tell by the cut of his clothes; and, yes, there's the red guide-book they all carry, under his arm. I wonder if he's on his way back to New York?"

But before very long both boys were too much absorbed in wondering why their train did not come, to bestow a second thought on anything else.

"What can be the matter?" cried Rudolph, anxiously, fearful lest they should not get off until supper-time, when they would be sure to be missed at home.

The American lad too seemed annoyed; and when the three were next brought face to face in their walk, he stopped in front of Albert, and in passable German inquired of the latter if he knew what had delayed the cars. Then they all went to the ticket office, and ascertained from the agent that an accident to an engine ahead had obstructed the track, and in consequence the Hanover and Hamburg train would not arrive at Hausewitz for a half-hour or more.

This information was rather startling to the two runaways, and Albert had made up his mind to confide in their new acquaintance, when Rudolph opened the subject by remarking that they thought of going to America shortly. One question brought on another, and by half past five, in a mixture of German and English, the whole plan of the expedition, together with its wonderful air-tight compartment system, had been poured into the attentive ear of the young American.

"Oh my! how funny!" he exclaimed in English, when he had heard all, and then he fell to laughing so long and heartily that the two German lads began to grow rather red in the face. On observing this the other restrained his merriment, and finding that his new friends were better acquainted with English than he was with German, asked if they would listen to a bit of advice, which they hastened to assure him they would be only too glad to do. "Well, then, to begin with," said the youthful republican, "my name is Edward Sharring, of New York, and I'm travelling in Europe with my father and the family, who are now in Hanover. I've been about a good deal in Germany, and have come to the conclusion that I'd rather be a Prussian officer than anything else."

Edward continued: "Why, boys, do you know what you are undertaking? Work your way on shipboard? In the first place, you'd probably have to hunt a week or two before you could find a ship that would take you; and then, oh my! the rough treatment you'd get from the mates!"

"But we're ready for all that," Rudolph ventured to interpose. "We don't expect to make our fortunes without working for them."

"Well, I must say I admire your pluck," returned the other; "but wait till you hear more. When you arrive in New York, in the course of a month or so after leaving Hamburg, what are you going to do then?"

"Go to work," promptly responded Albert.

"But at what?"

At this question both boys hesitated, and their friend suggested hod-carrying, brick-laying, loading ships, or car-driving.

Now this list was not a very attractive one, nor were these the sort of accomplishments on which the ambitious youths had reckoned. Where should they board, who would befriend them in a strange land, or what were they to do when their clothes wore out and they had no money with which to buy new?

These were pointed questions, and so sharply did the lads' foreign counsellor apply them, that at ten minutes to six Albert drew forth the satchel from its place of concealment, and Rudolph expressed his determination of becoming an officer in the German army.

Five minutes later the train came along, and after a hearty grasp of the hand to each of them, Edward Sharring stepped into a second-class carriage, and was soon whirling off to Hanover.

Luckily the would-be runaways had decided to delay purchasing their tickets until after they had left the town, so there was nothing lost by their honorable "backing out."

"You didn't count the Hausewitz station as one of the air-tight compartments, did you, Rudolph?" said Albert, as the two wended their way home to supper.

"I didn't think we'd need one so soon," replied his friend. "What a nice sort of a chap that New York fellow was, though! and to think he can't be a German officer when he wants to, and I can!"

"So can I, and will, too," added Albert; and thus it came to pass that the army of the Empire was enriched by two recruits, gained for it by a young republican from America.