, their glances were directed, their hands waved towards
him.

"Good-by! Good-by! Take good care of yourself! Wire from Sacramento!"
were their cries, addressed apparently to his head, and turning quickly,
he found himself confronting a young girl standing smiling on the
platform of the dining-car, her tiny feet about on a level with his
knees; yet he had hardly to cast an upward glance, for her beaming,
beautiful face was but a trifle higher than his own. In all his life he
had never seen one so pretty.

Realizing that he stood between this fair traveller and the friends who
were there to wish her god-speed; recognizing, too, with the swift
intuition of his class, the possibility of establishing relations on his
own account, the young soldier snatched off his new forage-cap, briefly
said, "I beg your pardon; take my place," and, swinging outward,
transferred himself to the rear of the recruit car, thereby causing the
corporal to recoil upon a grinning squad of embryo troopers who were
shouting jocular farewell to the natives, and getting much in the way of
train-hands who were busy straightening out the bell-cord.

Something seemed amiss with that portion of it which made part of the
equipment of the old tourists' car. It was either wedged in the narrow
orifice above the door or caught among the rings of the pendants from
above, for it resisted every jerk, whereat the brakeman set his teeth
and said improper things. It would have grieved the management to hear
this faithful employe's denunciation of that particular item of their
rolling-stock.

"Get out of the way here, boys, and let's see what's the matter with
this damned bell-cord," he continued, elbowing his way through the swarm
about the door. Once fairly within, he threw a quick glance along the
aisle. The left sections of the car were deserted. Out of almost every
window on the right side poked a head and pair of blue flannel
shoulders.

Only one man of the party seemed to have no further interest in what was
going on outside. With one hand still grasping the edge of the upright
partition between two sections near the forward end, and the other just
letting go, apparently, of the bell-cord, the tall, slender, well-built
young soldier, with dark-brown eyes and softly curling lashes, was
lowering himself into the aisle. The brakeman proceeded to rebuke him on
the spot.

"Look here, young feller, you'll have to keep your hands off that
bell-cord. Here I've