Late in the afternoon we left the girls at their camp. We said we'd come over to see them next day--that was Columbus Day. But the way it happened, we didn't see them again until a long time afterwards, and that's going to be in another story. So if you like girls, you'd better be sure to get the next story. Gee whiz, I used to make fun of girls, but anyway, I like them a lot. Pee-wee says they're so kind of hospital; he means hospitable. And I'll always remember _Camp Smile Awhile_, you can bet. Because we had more than a good smile there; we had a good laugh. Girls are all right. Then we hiked along the woods' path that led around the lake, back to Ridgeboro. Our car looked mighty nice and cosy, you can bet, as we came along. "We're having a mighty good time here," Connie said; "I'll be sorry when we have to drag ourselves away." "We don't have to drag ourselves away," I told him; "all we have to do is to sit still and be dragged away." "This is the life," Westy said. Connie said, "Sure, life on the rails; it's got life on the ocean wave beaten a hundred ways. When do you suppose they'll pick us up?" "Tuesday morning is the first freight," I told him. "There's a passenger train to-morrow night, but it doesn't stop here, see?" And I showed him the time table. "We should worry," I said; "we've got nearly twenty dollars from the movie show. I've got Mr. Temple's fifty sealed up in an envelope; we're supposed to forget that. Guess I might as well keep the time table, hey?" "I bet it's fun living on the railroad," Wig said. "I'd like to be a brakeman," Pee-wee shouted. "That would be a good job for you," I told him; "you make so many breaks. I think you ought to be cook on a dining car." "It's dangerous working on a railroad," Connie said; "lots of men lose their lives; sometimes they lose their hands or their fingers, too." "If you lose your life, what's the use of keeping your fingers?" Westy said. "Sure," I said; "they would only be a nuisance." "But I mean it," Connie said; "I heard that. If a man works on a railroad long enough he gets killed." "If he lives long enough he dies," I said. "There's a large percentage of mortality," Connie said. "A large which of whatness?" I asked him; "stand up and speak clearly so all the class can hear." "All right," he said; "it's true." "It's all right if you have your private car," Wig said. "All you have to do is to sit back and take it easy." "Sure, if you're in your private car it's all right," Connie said. By that time we had come to the car and Pee-wee was the first one to go up the steps. Now I don't know whether maybe it was because we had been talking about railroading that Pee-wee thought he'd play brakeman, but anyway, like the crazy kid he was, as soon as he was on the platform he grabbed the wheel that's connected with the brake and turned it out of its ratchet and twirled it around, shouting, "All aboard! All aboard!"