much older than you, twelve or thirteen,
maybe, and she's as bright as a new dollar.
Don't you want to go ahead and see her,
Jimmy? She's got the pretty brown eyes,
too!"

This last remark made me bashful, and I
shook my head and settled down to "Jesse
James." Jake nodded at me approvingly and
said you were likely to get diseases from for-
eigners.

I do not remember crossing the Missouri
River, or anything about the long day's jour-
ney through Nebraska. Probably by that
time I had crossed so many rivers that I
was dull to them. The only thing very no-
ticeable about Nebraska was that it was still,
all day long, Nebraska.

I had been sleeping, curled up in a red plush
seat, for a long while when we reached Black
Hawk. Jake roused me and took me by the
hand. We stumbled down from the train to
a wooden siding, where men were running
about with lanterns. I couldn't see any town,
or even distant lights; we were surrounded
by utter darkness. The engine was panting
heavily after its long run. In the red glow
from the fire-box, a group of people stood hud-

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v?