Page:Bob Chester's Grit.djvu/80

68 About seven o'clock in the morning the trainman, after having waited in vain for Bob to wake of his own accord, shook him gently by the shoulder, exclaiming:

"Come, son, it's time you were up and doing, if you are going to have breakfast with the 'old man.' He is liable to send in any time for you now, and after you have known him as long as I have, you'll learn that he doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"But where am I going to wash my face and hands? Doesn't the train stop at the station?"

At this naïve question, the brakeman looked at Bob for a moment, and then chuckling heartily to himself, exclaimed:

"Say, kid, are you trying to jolly me, or have you been kept in a glass cage all your life? Don't you know that they have washrooms on the trains?"

"No. This is the first time I have ever taken a journey on a train in my life."

"Where are you going?"

"To Chicago, first, and then out to Oklahoma.*

"Well, that's far enough, so that if you don't know anything about travelling now, you will when you get there. What part of Oklahoma are you going to?"

"I don't just know exactly," and then, his breast swelling with pride, he continued: "I'm