Six days afterwards he left home, on a sparkling June morning, with
a small bundle tied in a yellow silk handkerchief under his arm.
His father had furnished him with the promised money, but had
positively refused to tell him what road he should take, or what
plan of action he should adopt. The only stipulation was that his
absence from home should not be less than a month.
After he had passed the wood and reached the highway which followed
the course of the brook, he paused to consider which course to
take. Southward the road led past Pardon's, and he longed to see
his only friends once more before encountering untried hazards; but
the village was beyond, and he had no courage to walk through its
one long street with a bundle, denoting a journey, under his arm.
Northward he would have to pass the mill and blacksmith's shop at
the cross-roads. Then he remembered that he might easily wade the
stream at a point where it was shallow, and keep in the shelter of
the woods on the opposite hill until he struck the road farther on,
and in that direction two or three miles would take him into a
neighborhood where he was not known.
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