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148 timed it by her wrist-watch, and it was most exciting to see who had guessed the nearest. It was just as difficult to understand the names of the places as it was to gauge the distance between them.

"Nextation is Wussoniv! Wussoniv!" shouted the brakeman, as the door slammed.

"What a name!" said Joan. "I think that we’ll reach Wussoniv in fourteen minutes."

"I think it’ll be ten minutes," Garth cried.

They came to the station—which turned out to be West Olneysville—in eleven minutes and forty-two seconds by Joan’s watch, and Garth won. After that the train turned itself suddenly into an express and dashed past all the little towns with a fine disdain, trying in breathless haste to make up for the time it had been wasting. It thundered finally under the echoing arches of the terminal, and Joan and Garth stepped out upon the platform into dim resounding spaces. Dozens of locomotives snorted and hissed, sending up jets of white steam into the great, smoke-hung dome. The dank, imprisoned atmosphere was slightly chilly, although hot sunshine poured down outside.

Garth was a good deal excited as he and Joan