ched over as long a period as
possible, they again repaired to the smoking car. Baker hailed them
jovially, waving a stubby forefinger at vacant seats.

"Say, do Populists grow whiskers, or do whiskers make Populists?" he
demanded.

"Give it up," replied Welton promptly. "Why?"

"Because if whiskers make Populists, I don't blame this state for going
Pop. A fellow'd have to grow some kind of natural chest protector in
self-defence. Look at that snow! And thirty dollars will take you out
where there's none of it, and the soil's better, and you can see
something around you besides fresh air. Why, any one of these poor
pinhead farmers could come out our way, get twenty acres of irrigated
land, and in five years--"

"Hold on!" cried Bob, "you haven't by any chance some of that real
estate for sale--or a sandbag?"

Baker laughed.

"Everybody gets that way," said he. "I'll bet the first five men you
meet will fill you up on statistics."

He knew the country well, and pointed out in turn the first low rises of
the prairie swell, and the distant Rockies like a faint blue and white
cloud close down along the horizon. Bob had never seen any real
mountains before, and so was much interested. The train laboured up the
grades, steep to the engine, but insignificant to the eye; it passed
through the canons to the broad central plateau. The country was broken
and strange, with its wide, free sweeps, its sage brush, its stunted
trees, but it was not mountainous as Bob had conceived mountains. Baker
grinned at him.

"Snowclad peaks not up to specifications?" he inquired. "Chromos much
better? Mountain grandeur somewhat on the blink? Where'd you expect them
to put a railroad--out where the scenery is? Never mind. Wait till you
slide off 'Cape Horn' into California."

The cold weather followed them to the top of the Sierras. Snow, dull
clouds, mists and cold enveloped the train. Miles of snowsheds
necessitated keeping the artificial light burning even at midday. Winter
held them in its grip.

Then one morning they rounded the bold corner of a high mountain. Far
below them dropped away the lesser peaks, down a breathless descent. And
from beneath, so distant as to draw over themselves a tender veil of
pearl gray, flowed out foothills and green plains. The engine coughed,
shut off the roar of her exhaust. The train glided silently forward.

"Now come to the rear platform," Baker advised.

They sat in the open air while the tr