hing more was heard of
the matter.

I was ill in bed eleven days in Chicago and got no glimpse of the Fair,
for I was obliged to return East as soon as I was able to travel. The
Major secured and paid for a state-room in a sleeper the day before we
left, so that I could have plenty of room and be comfortable; but when
we arrived at the station a mistake had been made and our car had not
been put on. The conductor had reserved a section for us--it was the
best he could do, he said. But Major said we were not in a hurry, and
would wait for the car to be put on. The conductor responded, with
pleasant irony:

'It may be that you are not in a hurry, just as you say, but we are.
Come, get aboard, gentlemen, get aboard--don't keep us waiting.'

But the Major would not get aboard himself nor allow me to do it. He
wanted his car, and said he must have it. This made the hurried and
perspiring conductor impatient, and he said:

'It's the best we can do--we can't do impossibilities. You will take the
section or go without. A mistake has been made and can't be rectified
at this late hour. It's a thing that happens now and then, and there
is nothing for it but to put up with it and make the best of it. Other
people do.'

'Ah, that is just it, you see. If they had stuck to their rights and
enforced them you wouldn't be trying to trample mine underfoot in
this bland way now. I haven't any disposition to give you unnecessary
trouble, but it is my duty to protect the next man from this kind of
imposition. So I must have my car. Otherwise I will wait in Chicago and
sue the company for violating its contract.'

'Sue the company?--for a thing like that!'

'Certainly.'

'Do you really mean that?'

'Indeed, I do.'

The conductor looked the Major over wonderingly, and then said:

'It beats me--it's bran-new--I've never struck the mate to it
before. But I swear I think you'd do it. Look here, I'll send for the
station-master.'

When the station-master came he was a good deal annoyed--at the Major,
not at the person who had made the mistake. He was rather brusque, and
took the same position which the conductor had taken in the beginning;
but he failed to move the soft-spoken artilleryman, who still insisted
that he must have his car. However, it was plain that there was only
one strong side in this case, and that that side was the Major's. The
station-master banished his annoyed manner, and became pleasant and
even half-apologet