er entered the car and languidly glanced from one to
another of the occupants, as though making a mental calculation of the
tips he would receive, when his eyes fell on the poorly-clad figure of
Bob, holding his box of lunch on his knees.

With an exclamation of surprise, the porter hastened to where the lad
was sitting.

"What you-all doin' in hyar?" he demanded harshly.

The tone in which the question was asked now caused the other
passengers, who had hitherto been too busy getting themselves
comfortably settled to notice Bob, to turn their gaze upon him.

"I'm going to Chicago," returned Bob.

But the hostile look on the porter's face scared him, and he could not
help a tremor that crept into his voice as he made his reply.

"Whar's yer ticket?" snarled the negro.

Reaching into his pocket, Bob drew forth the long strip of paper and
presented it to the officious porter.

"The ticket's all right," grunted the man. "Now, whar's youah parlah
cyar ticket?"

"My what?" asked Bob.

"Youah parlah cyar ticket."

"That's all the ticket I have," returned Bob. "Isn't that enough? I told
the man I wanted a chair-car ticket, and that's what he gave me."

"Huh! I thought so. This ain't no chair cyar. This is a parlah cyar.
The cyar you-all want is up front, four cyars ahead. Now get out of hyar
lively."

"But I can't get out while the train's going," protested Bob. "I might
get hurt, and--and besides, I want to go to Chicago, and if I get off
I'll lose my train."

And in Bob's voice, as he pictured himself in his mind left beside the
railroad tracks in a strange place and at night, there was a plaintive
appeal.

"You don't have to git off ther train," snarled the porter. "All you
gotta do is to walk right fru ther other cyars, three of 'em, mind you,
and you'll find your chair cyar. The idea of you-all getting into a
parlah cyar with a chair-cyar ticket."

Reassured by the information that it would be unnecessary for him to
leave the train in order to reach the proper car, Bob rose from the soft
and luxurious seat slowly.

"Come, hurry," growled the porter, making a move as though to seize Bob
by the arm and drag him from the car.

But before he could do so, the stern voice of an elderly and
well-dressed man, who was occupying the second seat ahead, exclaimed:

"Porter, can't you see this boy is unaccustomed to travelling? Why
don't you show him the way to the chair car?"

"What, _me_ take that crittur f