e been a wrench to tear themselves away had it been any other
day than this, but to-day was the one to which they had looked eagerly
forward through all the month of exhibition playing, since they had left
the quiet home at Riverside, and they kept looking at their watches to see
if it were not time to go to the train and meet the girls.

They were at the station long before the appointed time, and when at last
the Overland Flyer drew in they scanned each Pullman anxiously to catch a
sight of two charming faces.

They were not kept long in suspense, for down the steps of the second car
tripped Clara and Mabel, looking more wonderfully alluring than ever,
although a month before neither Jim nor Joe would have admitted that such
a thing were possible.

Reggie, too, was there, dressed "to the limit" as usual, and with his
supposed English accent twice as pronounced as ever.

But Reggie for the moment did not count, compared with the lovely charges
whom he had brought across the continent. Of course, the boys felt
grateful to him, but their eyes and their thoughts were fastened on his
two charming companions.

"I'm awfully glad you've got here at last," cried Joe, as he rushed up to
Mabel and caught her by both hands. He would have liked very much to have
kissed her, but did not dare do it in such a public place.

"Oh, what a grand trip we've had!" declared Clara, as she shook hands
first with Jim and then with her brother. "I never had any idea our
country was so big and so magnificent."

"That's just what Joe and I were remarking on our trip across the
Rockies," answered Jim. He could not take his eyes from the face of his
chum's sister. Clara looked the picture of health, showing that the trip
from her little home town had done her a world of good.

But if Clara looked good, Mabel looked even better--at least in the eyes
of Joe. He could not keep his gaze from her face. And she was certainly
just as glad to see him.

"Ye-es, it was quite a trip, don't you know," remarked Reggie. "I met
several bally good chaps on the way, so the time passed quickly enough.
But I'm glad to be here, and hope that before long we'll be on
shipboard."

"Oh, I'm so excited to think that I'm going to take a real ocean trip!"
burst out Clara. "Just to think of it--a girl like me going around the
world! I never dreamed I'd get that far."

"And just think of the many queer sights we'll see!" broke in Mabel. "And
the queer people we'll