He had to wait until he thought his aunt was asleep , and it was about eleven when he crept downstairs , his heart quaking within him , and got out by the porch window . When he found himself alone in the clear moonlight of the August night , a sense of elation filled his cramped little heart . He was free , and he would never come back here -- never ! `` Wisht I could have seen Henry to say good-by to him , though , '' he muttered with a wistful glance at the big house across the pond where the unconscious Henry was sleeping soundly with never a thought of moonlight flittings for anyone in his curly head . Chester meant to walk to Roxbury Station ten miles away . Nobody knew him there , and he could catch the morning train . Late as it was , he kept to fields and wood-roads lest he might be seen and recognized . It was three o'clock when he reached Roxbury , and he knew the train did not pass through until six . With the serenity of a philosopher who is starting out to win his way in the world and means to make the best of things , Chester curled himself up in the hollow space of a big lumber pile behind the station , and so tired was he that he fell soundly asleep in a few minutes . * * * * * Chester was awakened by the shriek of the express at the last crossing before the station . In a panic of haste he scrambled out of his lumber and dashed into the station house , where a sleepy , ill-natured agent stood behind the ticket window . He looked sharply enough at the freckled , square-jawed boy who asked for a second-class ticket to Belltown . Chester 's heart quaked within him at the momentary thought that the ticket agent recognized him . He had an agonized vision of being collared without ceremony and haled straightway back to Aunt Harriet . When the ticket and his change were pushed out to him , he snatched them and fairly ran . `` Bolted as if the police were after him , '' reflected the agent , who did not sell many tickets and so had time to take a personal interest in the purchasers thereof . `` I 've seen that youngster before , though I ca n't recollect where . He 's got a most fearful determined look . '' Chester drew an audible sigh of relief when the train left the station . He was fairly off now and felt that he could defy even curious railway officials .
It was not his first train ride , XXXXX Mrs. Elwell had once taken him to Belltown to get an aching tooth extracted , but it was certainly his first under such exhilarating circumstances , and he meant to enjoy it .
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