"Well, there I stepped out of the coach and under it. Whew! but it was an experience I'll never try again. All the same, I got what I was after. I wanted to learn how many revolutions an axle made in so many minutes. I wanted to know, too, how a belt could be attached under a coach. I've got the outlines of the facts, how to work out my invention: 'Graham's Automatic Bellows Gearing.'" Ralph did not ask for further details as to the device his companion had in mind. He led a pleasant conversation the way from the depot, and when they reached the hotel introduced Archie to its proprietor. "This friend of mine will be all right for what he orders, Mr. Lane," said Ralph. "Yes, I'm going to stay here some days, perhaps a week or two," explained the young inventor, "so, if you'll give me a blank check I'll fill it for what cash I may need. You put it through your bank and the funds will be here to-morrow." Everything was arranged in a satisfactory way, even to Archie ordering a new suit of clothes. The youth came out temporarily from his usual profundity, and had a real, natural boyish talk with Ralph. The latter recited the incident of the adventure with Billy Bouncer's crowd at Bridgeport. "Oh, that Jim Scroggins fellow," said Archie, with a smile. "Yes, I remember--'kick him Scroggins.' You see, he had broken into my workshop, destroyed some devices I was working on and stole a lot of my tools. So you're Mr. Fairbanks? I've heard of you." "Ralph, you mean, Mr. Graham," observed the young railroader pleasantly. "Then Archie, you mean," added his eccentric companion. "I'd like to be friends with you, for I can see you are the right sort. You've done a good deal for me." "Oh, don't notice that." "And you can do a good deal more." "Indeed? How?" "By getting me free range of your roundhouse here. Can you?" "I will be glad to do it," answered Ralph. "I hope you will," said Archie gratefully. "They don't know me here, and they won't poke fun at me or hinder me. I'm not going to steal any of their locomotives. I just want to study them." "That's all right," said Ralph, "I'll see you to-morrow and fix things for you, so you will be welcome among my railroad friends." "You're a royal good fellow, Mr. Ralph," declared the young inventor with enthusiasm, "and I don't know how to thank you enough." "Well, I've tried to do something for humanity to-day," reflected the young engineer brightly, as he wended his way homewards. "It comes easy and natural, too, when a fellow's trying to do his level best." Ralph found his mother bustling about at a great rate when he reached home. The excitement over the fire had died down. Fogg was up at the ruins getting his rescued household belongings to a neighborly shelter. The string of excited friends to condole with Mrs. Fogg had dwindled away, and the poor lady lay in comfort and peace in the best bedroom of the house.