station, and the porter shall take you on from there. If you were to get
off the platform here and walk up the lines, others would notice it, and
there would be an immediate rush."

He called to one of the porters on the platform, and gave him
instructions, and in a few minutes Mrs. King was seated on her box in
the corner of a truck, which, with a few others, had a covered roof,
although it was entirely open at the sides. In the next half-hour eight
or ten others, who had been similarly favoured by the manager, joined
them. All these were known to the Kings, and it was a great relief to
them to find that they would travel together, instead of being mixed up
with the general crowd. They had packed themselves together as closely
as possible, so that when the train became crowded there should be no
room for anyone to push in among them. Among the party was John Cairns,
a great chum of Chris's. He and his father and mother had been waiting
for two hours at the station, and he told him that there were seven or
eight of their companions there.

"We will take our seats on that side," Chris said, "and as we move in
shout to them to join us. It will be a great thing to get as many people
we know in here as possible."

Presently the train began to move. Fortunately, at the spot where it
drew up, a group of their acquaintances were clustered together, and
these all managed to get into the truck, which was speedily filled up
until there was scarce standing-room. Three minutes later the train
moved on. A great number were left behind, although everyone made as
much room as possible, women especially being helped in after the trucks
seemed absolutely choke-full. As soon as the train was fairly in motion
many of the men climbed up on to the roofs of the covered waggons,