They went on together, and though the sun was now fiercely hot and the
distance long, George enjoyed the walk. Once they met a ballast train,
with a steam plow mounted at one end of it, and a crowd of men riding
on the open cars; but when it had passed there was nothing to break the
deep silence of the woods. The dark firs shut in the narrow track
except when here and there a winding lake or frothing river filled a
sunny opening.

Soon after George and his companion reached the train, the engine came
back with a row of freightcars, and during the afternoon the western
express pulled out again, and sped furiously through the shadowy bush.




CHAPTER IV

GEORGE MAKES FRIENDS

It was nearing midnight when George walked impatiently up and down the
waiting-room in Winnipeg station, for the western express was very
late, and nobody seemed to know when it would start. George was
nevertheless interested in his surroundings, and with some reason. The
great room was built in palatial style, with domed roof, tessellated
marble floor, and stately pillars: it was brilliantly lighted; and
massively-framed paintings of snow-capped peaks and river gorges
adorned the walls. An excursion-train from Winnipeg Beach had just
come in, and streams of young men and women in summer attire were
passing through the room. They all looked happy and prosperous: he