Living in such a city was actually like eating hard cash! Fritz saw that he would have to proceed on his journey along the coast as cheaply as possible:-- he had not much to spare for railway and steamboat fares.
With this resolution staring him in the face, he made his way one afternoon to the foot of Canal Street, from the quays facing which, on the North River, start the huge floating palaces of steamers that navigate the waters of Long Island Sound--visiting on their way those New England States where, it may be recollected, the Pilgrim Fathers landed after their voyage in the _Mayflower_, of historic renown, a couple of odd centuries ago.
One of these vessels had "Providence" marked on her; and the name at once arrested the attention of Fritz.
"Himmel!" he said to himself, with a superstitious sort of feeling like that which he used to ridicule in old Lorischen when she read omens in Mouser's attitudes and cat language of a night--"this looks lucky; perhaps providence is going to interpose on my behalf, and relieve me from all the misery and anxiety I'm suffering! At all events, I will go on board and see where the steamer is bound for." No sooner said than done.
Fritz stepped on to the gangway; and, quickly gaining the vessel, asked one of the deck hands he saw forward where she was going to.
"Ha-o-ow ?" repeated the man--meaning "what ?" "Where are you bound for ?" said Fritz again.
"Providence, Rhode Island, I guess, mister.

Can't ye see it writ up ?" "And where's that ?" further inquired Fritz.
"New England way, I reckon, whar I wer raised." "Any ships or shipping trade there ?" The man laughed out heartily.
"Jerusalem, that's prime, anyhow!" he exclaimed.

"Any ships at Providence?
Why, you might as well ask if thar wer any fish in the sea! Thar are heaps and heaps on 'em up to Rhode Island, mister, from a scoop up to a whaler; so I guess we can fix you up slick if you come aboard!" "All right, I will," said Fritz; "that is, if the fare is not too high." "Guess two-fifty won't break you, hey ?" responded the deck hand, meaning two-and-a-half dollars.
"No," said Fritz; "I think I can manage that.

What time do you start ?" "Five o'clock sharp." "That will just give me time to fetch my valise," said Fritz, thinking aloud.
"Where away is that ?" asked the man.
"Chatham Street," answered Fritz, "just below the town hall." "Oh, I know, mister, well enough whar Chatham Street is! Yes, you'll have plenty of time if you look smart." "Thank you, I will," said Fritz; and, going back to the boarding-house where he had been stopping, he soon returned to the quay with the little valise that carried all his impedimenta--reaching the steamer just in the nick of time as she was casting off.
As he jumped on to her deck, the gangway was withdrawn.
"All aboard ?" sang out the captain from the pilot-house on the hurricane deck.
"Aye, aye, all aboard," was the response from Fritz's friend the deck hand, who, with only a red flannel shirt on and a pair of check trousers--very unsailorlike in appearance altogether--stood in the bows.
"Then fire away and let her rip!" came the reply from the captain above, followed by the tinkle of an electric bell in the engine-room, the steamer's paddles revolving with a splash the moment afterwards and urging her on her watery way.
Round the Battery at Manhattan Point she glided, and up the East River through Hell Gate into Long Island Sound--one of the most sheltered channels in the world, and more like a lake or lagoon than an arm of the sea--leaving a broad wake of creamy green foam behind her like a mill- race, and quivering from stem to stern with every revolution of her shaft, with every throb of her high-pressure engines!.