well as anywhere else.

"I ain't got but a little lunch here," said the red-headed telegrapher,
station agent and baggage man rolled into one, regretfully. "But
you're welcome to share it with me."

"No need of that, thanks," said Jack, heartily. "We were going to cook
our supper in the woods, and if you'll show me a place where I can
build a fire, I'll cook it now. We've got plenty for you, too, and
I'll give you some bacon and eggs and coffee if you like them."

"Say, you're all right! My name's Hank Hudson, and if there's anything
I sure do hanker after, it's bacon and eggs. I can't get a hot supper
on this job--I have to tote everything along with me from home, and
it's all cold victuals I get."

"Well, we'll have a treat for you tonight, then, and I'm glad we will.
It's mighty nice of you to let Tom Binns lie in the depot."

Jack was as good as his word. Hudson showed him a place where a
natural fireplace, as it seemed, was all ready and waiting for the fire
to be made, and Jack, in a comparatively short time, sent up a fragrant
odor of frying bacon and eggs, and of rich, steaming coffee that would
have given a wooden Indian an appetite. He carried the meal to the
station, too, and the three of them ate it together, while Hudson's
cold lunch, despised now, and not to be compared with the fine fare
Jack provided, was cast aside in a corner of the station.

"Do many trains pass here that don't stop?" asked Tom.

"Sure they do!" said Hudson. "This last hour is about the quietest one
of the whole day. I have to watch them all, too, and report when they
pass here, so that the despatchers can keep track of them."

"What would happen if you didn't?"

"Can't tell! But there might easily be a bad wreck. If the despatcher
thought he would get a flash from here as soon as the Thunderbolt
passed, for instance, and I was asleep when she went by, he might let
something into the track ahead of her, and then there'd be a fine lot
of trouble. You can see that!"

"I should say so! You've a pretty responsible place here, I should
think. Do you like it?"

"Sure! I think the work's great! I'd rather work on a railroad than
anything I can think of. But it gets awful lonely here sometimes.
That's the worst part of it. The work's easy enough, but it's not
having anyone to talk to, except the fellows and the girls on the wire,
that makes it a hard job."

"You talk to all of them, I guess, don't you?"

"Sur