I like to ride on the cars pretty well, and so does Mark. There are always such a heap of things to see out of the window, and such a lot of different kinds of people right on the cars. It was about four hours’ ride to the city, but it didn’t seem half that long, and I was sorry when we got there. It was pretty dark when we walked out of the depot into the street. “Now what?” says I. “B-bed,” says he. “Where?” says I. “Hotel,” says he. “There’s one,” I says, pointing right across the street, so we took our satchels and went over. There was a fellow behind a counter, and when we came up he sort of grinned and says good evening. “How much does it cost to sleep here?” says Mark. “Two dollars and a half is our cheapest room.” “For both of us?” “I guess I can make it three and a half for two.” “I g-guess you can’t,” says Mark. “The way I look at it, no two boys can do three d-d-dollars and a half worth of sleepin’ in one night. Hain’t there no cheaper places?” “Lots of ’em, young man. There’s a tramps’ lodging-house down the street where you can stay for ten cents.” “Um!... Well, I calc’late what we want is somethin’ betwixt and between. Somethin’ where we kin stay for about a dollar apiece.” That seemed like an awful lot to spend just for sleeping. Why, in the morning our two dollars would be gone and we wouldn’t have anything to show for it. It seems like when you spend money you ought to _git_ something. I nudged Mark and says to him that it was cheaper to stay awake, and we could use our dollars to-morrow to buy something we could touch. But he says we got to sleep to be fresh for business. “I’ll tell you,” says the man behind the counter. “I’ve got a little room without a bath, and if you can sleep two in a bed, you can have it for two-fifty.” “All r-right,” says Mark. “Kin we have breakfast here?” “If you’ve got the money to pay for it.” “Um!... But there’s places where we can git g-g-good grub cheaper ’n you sell it, hain’t there?” “Why, yes! There’s a good serve-self lunch up the street where you can get a lot to eat for fifty cents. Say, what are you kids up to? Running away from home?” “Not that you can n-notice,” says Mark. “We’re here on b-business. We come to see the p-president of that railroad across the street.” “Oh,” says the man, and he laughed right out. “You come to see him, did you? Was he expecting you?” “No.” “Um!... Well, from all accounts, he’s a nice man to see—I guess not. They say he eats a couple of men for breakfast every morning. He keeps a baseball-bat on his desk, and hits everybody that comes to see him a lick over the head. I see him every little while, and, believe me, I’m glad I don’t have to mix in with him any. I expect he’s the grouchiest man in town.” “Sorry to hear it,” says Mark, “but I guess we kin m-make out to git along with him s-somehow.” “Want to go to your room?” “Yes.”