nd said very sober-like, "What _used_ to be the name of
this town?"

The man said, "'Taint youster; _'tis_. This here taown is Ridgeboro,
Noow York, and so it'll stay, by thunder!"

"Good night!" I said, and all the fellows started to laugh.

Because then I knew how it was. We must have been picked up by the wrong
train--a train going the other way. And the conductor must have had
_Ridgeboro_ instead of _Bridgeboro_ on his paper. Oh, boy, that was some
bull. And just as luck would have it, the people of that place were
expecting the railroad to give them a new station. I didn't know where
the old station was; I guessed there wasn't any.

Connie whispered to me, "Who do you suppose Eb Brewster is?"

"Search _me_," I told him; "but I bet he'll be tickled to death to find
that the town is named after him."

CHAPTER VII

ON TO SKIDDYUNK

I didn't want him to ask us any more questions, so I said I guessed we'd
go and look for the town if he would tell us where we could find it. He
got kind of mad at that, because that was the town right there, and all
the while we didn't know it. Gee whiz, how could _we_ tell? He said some
day that town would be as big as Skiddyunk and that once upon a time New
York had only one store, too.

"It has one store three or four now," I said.

Then he told us that Skiddyunk was about one mile along the track and
that we'd see it as soon as we got around the bend. I guess Ridgeboro
was just kind of on the edge of Skiddyunk. Gee whiz, if the railroad was
going to give it a station, that station ought not to be a car. A
wheelbarrow would be good enough.

"I wish we had some money, I know that," Connie said, as we were
walking along the ties. "That's the only thing that's worrying _me_."

"Same here," I told him, "but we're going to have a lot of fun here,
believe me; I can see it coming."

"Keep your eyes peeled and see if you see a train coming," Westy said.
Can you beat that fellow? Oh, but he's a reckless boy--not.

"Careful Carl," I said.

"What do you do with all the money you spend?" Connie wanted to know.

"Oh, I save it," I told him; "ask me another one."

"Who do you think Eb Brewster is?" Pee-wee piped up.

"He's the man the town is named after," I said; "good night, there's
going to be some fun around this way. I'm glad I'm not the railroad."

"I bet those men will take that sign down," Wig said.

"I bet they'll put it up again, then," I told him.

"Are yo