CHAPTER IX

A TALE OF THE PLAINS


Placing in his pocket the money and the precious piece of pasteboard
which possessed the magic power of procuring for him transportation to
the land of his dreams, Bob rose from the breakfast-table and made his
way back to his chair.

As the train stopped at one station after another, people kept getting
aboard, and soon the car in which Bob was riding was filled to its
capacity.

Having nothing better to do, the lad amused himself by studying each new
passenger, and he was amusing himself in trying to assign them to their
proper vocations, when he was attracted to the man who came in and took
the seat directly in front of him.

Tall and inordinately thin, the man's clothes seemed simply to hang from
his shoulders. His hair, of a curious rusty gray, seemed to stick out
from under the faded straw hat, and his whole appearance suggested
nothing so much as a scarecrow.

Despite the man's ungainly appearance, however, his face was one that
would attract and hold attention. So thin was it that it seemed as
though the cheek bones would any minute pierce the bronzed skin, and