“I hate to go back to the home of Obed Swikes,” said he to himself, as he walked from the house of the kind lady to the river. “I have to work like a dog, and sometimes I can’t get enough to eat; and he and the old woman say I don’t earn my salt. Both of them are growling at me all the time, and I have no peace of my life. They haven’t any claims on me; and they say I belong in the poorhouse. I don’t believe I should be any worse off if I were in the poorhouse. I shouldn’t have to work any harder, and I couldn’t be fed any worse. But then, I don’t like the name of it.” By the time he reached the river, he had about made up his mind not to return to the house of Obed Swikes. It was a big thought; and, seating himself in the standing-room, he gave himself up to it. The runaways were going to New York, and he had expected to go with them. He believed he could find work there, and earn his own living. But how could he get to New York? He had the old boat, and it was not more than sixty miles distant. It might take him two days to get there; but the boat would certainly take him to his destination if he kept her going. The dollar Capt. Trustleton had given him would supply all the provision he needed, and even leave him something to spend after he reached the great city. The question was settled in the boy’s mind. Some folks in Midhampton would miss the old boat; but Wade felt that he had the best right to her, for she had belonged to his father. Hoisting the mainsail, he stood down the river; and, when he had passed the bridge, he set the jib. He expected to find a town before he reached the Sound, where he could buy the food for the cruise; but no such place appeared. Wade Brooks had heard of the Sound, but he had no clear idea what it was. He had been to school in the winter since he was old enough to do so, and had studied geography. He had seen the Sound on the map, and thought it was like a very wide river. He knew that he must go west to reach New York, and he had no doubt that he should find it. The wind was fresh and fair, and in less than half an hour the “Mud-turtle” reached the mouth of the river. The Sound looked like the trackless ocean to Wade, for at this point he could not see across it. He did not like the idea of going out on such a broad sea; for he had never sailed anywhere except on the river, and had never been out of Midhampton before. But he could keep near the shore, and if a storm came up he could put in at some of the towns he had seen on the map. After he got out of the river, he found a point of land extended over a mile to the south, and had a light-house at the end of it. He doubled this cape, and found that a great bay stretched inland. It was seven or eight miles across the mouth of this bay, and he did not like to venture out so far. Besides, several vessels and a small steamboat were bound up the bay, which indicated that there was a large town at the head of it.