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Rh down state. Say the word, Markham. I can see you're In trouble or distress of some kind. I'm not prying to find out what it is. I only want to show what I think of you for saving my money, and maybe my life with a courage that has got to belong to a first-class fellow."

Markham bowed his head as if in deep thought. Frank saw a tear fall to the platform. Finally his companion spoke again.

"If you will advance my fare," he said, "I'll pay you back first money I earn."

"That's a bargain," said Frank. "Come on. We'll buy your ticket right now."

"No," demurred Markham, holding back in a timorous way. "You get both tickets. I'll be somewhere on the train. I'd rather sort of hang around the smoker and the platforms till we get beyond the city limits."

"All right," said Frank.

He had a vague idea in his mind that Markham was afraid to show himself publicly in the city, for some reason or other. Frank even speculated as to the possibility of Markham being disguised. He looked, acted and talked like a boy about his own age. The moustache, however, suggested that he was a young man of about twenty.

Frank made his new acquaintance promise