In due time they reached the station, and entering one of the long cars, selected their seats. They did not sit down together, but took seats directly in front of each other, giving a window to each.
"I suppose I ought to say something to him," thought Robert, "but I don't know what to say."
Indeed, there seemed to be no common ground on which they could meet. With some persons the boy would have been engaged in animated conversation long before this, but he seemed to have nothing to say to James Cromwell.
"Do you like traveling, Mr. Cromwell?" he asked, at length.
"I think we shall have a pleasant journey."
"Do you know when we shall reach Niagara, Mr. Cromwell?"
"I think Mr. Morton said it would take us about twenty-four hours."
"Then we shall get there about this time to-morrow."
"Yes; we shall be all night on the cars."
"I am sorry for that, for we shall lose the scenery on the way--I mean, that we pass through during the night."
Here the conversation dropped. James Cromwell bought a paper from a boy who came through the cars, and began to read. Robert, with all the eager interest of his age, employed himself in looking out of the window, watching the fields and houses among which they were wending their rapid way.
It will be unnecessary to chronicle the incidents of the journey, for there were none worth mentioning. In due time they reached Niagara, and secured rooms at the principal hotel on the American side.
It was afternoon, and they only went round a little before supper. They decided to defer the principal part of their sightseeing until the next day.
The next day was pleasant. Together the two walked about, enjoying views of the cataract from various points.
At length Cromwell said, "How would you like to go to Goat Island? I am told the view is fine from there."
"I should like it very much. Suppose we go," said Robert, promptly.
Had he known the sinister purpose with which this proposition was made, he would have recoiled from it as from a deadly serpent, but the boy was wholly unconscious of the peril that menaced him, nor did he observe the nervous agitation that affected James Cromwell, whose timidity made him shrink with fear at the risk he was about to incur.
They soon found themselves on the island, and advancing, reached an exposed point from which they could look down upon the foaming waters beneath. Cromwell manoeuvered so as to have the boy on the side toward the water.