The Boy from the Ranch | Page 9

do
is push this yeah button," and he showed Roy an electric button fixed
near the window.
"Well, I don't know what I'll want of you," said the boy, trying to think
what excuse he could have for calling the colored man.
"Why, sah, youh might want to git breshed off, or youh might want a
book, or a cigar--"
"I don't smoke," retorted Roy promptly.
"Well, I'm here to wait on passengers," went on the negro, "and if youh
wants me all youh has to do is push that yeah button."
"All right--er--" he paused, not knowing what to call the porter.
"Mah name's George Washington Thomas Jefferson St. Louis Algernon
Theophilus Brown, but folks dey gen'ally calls me George, sah," and
the porter grinned so that he showed every one of his big white teeth.

"All right--George," said Roy, beginning to understand something of
matters. "I'll call you if I want you."
"Dey calls out when it's meal time."
"What's that?"
"I say dey calls out when it's meal time. De dining car potah will call
out when it's time fo' dinner."
"Oh," remarked Roy, rather dubiously, for he did not know exactly
what was meant.
The porter left him, laughing to himself at the lack of knowledge
shown by the boy from the ranch, but for all that George Washington St.
Louis Algernon Theophilus Brown resolved to do all he could for Roy.
As for the young traveler he was so interested in the scenery, as it
appeared to fly past the broad windows of the car, that he did not worry
about what he was going to do when it came meal time.
Still, after an hour or so of looking out of the window it became a little
tiresome, and he turned around to observe his fellow passengers. Seated
near him was a well-dressed man, who had quite a large watch chain
strung across his vest. He had a sparkling stone in his necktie, and
another in a ring on his finger.
"Your first trip East?" he asked, nodding in a friendly way to Roy.
"My first trip, of any account, anywhere. I haven't taken a long railroad
journey since I was a baby, and I don't remember that."
"I thought you looked as if you hadn't been a very great distance away
from home. Going far?"
"To New York."
"Ah you have business there, I suppose?"
Now Roy, though he was but a youth, unused to the ways of the world,

had much natural shrewdness. He had been brought up in the
breeziness of the West, where it is not considered good form, to say the
least, to ask too many questions of a man. If a person wanted to tell you
his affairs, that was a different matter. So, as Roy's mission was more
or less of a secret one, he decided it would not be well to talk about it,
especially to strangers. So he answered:
"Yes, I have some business there."
His manner was such that the man soon saw the boy did not care to talk
about his affairs, and, being a keen observer, too much so for Roy's
good, as we shall soon see, the man did not pursue his questioning on
those lines.
"Fine scenery," he remarked. "Good, open country around here."
Roy felt that was a safe enough subject to talk about, and he and the
man, who introduced himself as Mr. Phelan Baker, spent some time in
conversation.
Roy, however, was continually wondering what he should do when the
announcement was made that dinner was to be served. He did not want
to make any mistakes, and have the car full of passengers laugh at him,
yet he did not know what was proper to do under the circumstances.
He had neglected to Inquire how they served meals on trains, and, in
fact, had he done so, no one at the ranch could have told him, as not
even Mr. Bradner had traveled enough to make it necessary to eat in a
dining car.
"If I was back at the ranch I'd know what to do when I heard the
grub-call," thought Roy. "But this thing has got me puzzled. It sure has.
I wonder if they bring you in sandwiches and coffee, as they did to a
party I went to? Or do you have to go up and help yourself? I don't see
how they cook anything on a train going as fast as this one. They must
have to eat cold victuals. Well, I guess I can stand it for a few days, I've
eaten cold bacon and bread when on a round-up, and I'm not going to
hold back now. Guess I'll just do as the rest do."

A little while after this a colored