t friends in that part of the
country, or in the great city across the river.

For the next two hours Rod worked hard and faithfully with the cattle
committed to his charge, and then, anticipating with a keen appetite a
share of Brakeman Joe's breakfast, he returned to where he had left the
caboose. It was not there, nor could he find a trace of it. He saw plenty
of other cabooses looking just like it, but none of them was the one he
wanted.

He inquired of a busy switch-tender where it could be found, and the man
asked him its number. He had not noticed. What was the number of the train
with which it came in? Rod had no idea. The number of the locomotive that
drew it then? The boy did not know that either.

"Well," said the man impatiently, "you don't seem to know much of
anything, and I'd advise you to learn what it is you want to find out
before you bother busy folks with questions."

So the poor fellow was left standing alone and bewildered in the great,
busy freight-yard, friendless and hungry. He had lost even the few
treasures contained in his M. I. P. bag, and never had life seemed darker
or more hopeless. For some moments he could not think what to do, or which
way to turn.

CHAPTER VIII.

EARNING A BREAKFAST.

If Rod Blake had only known the number of the caboose for which he was
searching, he could easily have learned what had happened to it. Soon
after he left it, while it was being switched on to a siding, one of its
draw-bars became broken, and it had been sent to the repair shop, a mile
or so away, to be put in condition for going out again that night. He had
not thought of looking at its number, though; for he had yet to learn that
on a railroad everything goes by numbers instead of by names. A few years
ago all locomotives bore names, such as "Flying Cloud," "North Wind,"
etc., or were called after prominent men; but now they are simply
numbered. It is the same with cars, except sleepers, drawing-rooms, and a
few mail cars. Trains are also numbered, odd numbers being given to west
or south bound, and even numbers to east or north bound trains. Thus,
while a passenger says he is going out by the Chicago Limited, the Pacific
Express, or the Fitchburg Local, the railroad man would say that he was
going on No. 1, 3, or 5, as the case might be. The sections, from three to
eight miles long, into which every road is divided, are numbered, as are
all its bridges. Even the stations are numbered,