I must admit that for my part I found the wrinkled old crones and dirty braves rather disgusting, though occasionally a few who still retained their primitive adornments of vermilion paint and eagle’s feathers furnished a bit of picturesqueness that was interesting. At one stopping-place, there being no Indians visible, we turned our attention to the crowd of European peasants who poured out of the immigrant cars, and strolling about among them we amused ourselves by studying the stolid, square faces, and giving candy to the sturdy, little flaxen-haired children who gazed in round-eyed wonder at us. Presently I saw that Mildred, who had slipped away from me, was holding a hurried and earnest conversation with a sad-eyed little woman who with quivering lips was telling the story of how her _Mann_ had died on the voyage and been buried at sea, and how she was left to make the rest of the long journey alone with her three helpless little ones. “It goes to my heart,” said Mildred as we returned to our car, “to think of that woman and those poor, fatherless little things in this strange land. Not one of the people with her is her friend and neighbor, and I don’t know what is to become of her.” “How perfectly dreadful!” exclaimed Alice calmly as she scanned her cards. “Gad, that’s tough!” ejaculated Will, and then we proceeded with our whist, which had been interrupted by this little episode. I watched Mildred. I knew that this would not be the end of it with her, though the others soon forgot about it. She played carelessly and was beaten. She was thinking not of the game, but of the tired, broken-hearted wife in the next car who had so courageously said good-by to the Fatherland a month before with her brave Fritz, and must now end the long, wearisome journey alone, poor and friendless. Presently she rose and left the car. “Let me go with you,” called Will, and followed her, while I lay down on the sofa for a nap and knew nothing more until an hour later. Then I waked to find Mildred kneeling by my side and smilingly patting my cheeks. “What do you say to having an adventure, Ruby?” she asked. “I have a capital scheme; just listen to it. Will and I have been to see that poor little woman, and it is pathetic to see how she clings to us and looks to us for assistance. She will be utterly helpless when she gets to the end of her journey. Her passage is prepaid through, but that is all. She has only three dollars left, and the agent who has all these people in charge is a hard-faced man who cannot be trusted to concern himself in the least about her. “She opened her whole heart to me while Will amused the children, and I have learned all her simple little story. I hadn’t the heart to leave her until I had promised to see her through to her journey’s end.”