“Say it is?” June digested that in silence for a moment. Then: “Must be a powerful big ol’ place, Mas’ Wayne,” he said dolorously. “Ain’ you afraid we’d get lost or somethin’. There was a feller I know got lost in Atlanta one time an’ he didn’ find hisself for days an’ days, no sir! An’ I ’spects New York’s a heap bigger’n Atlanta, ain’ it?” “Lots bigger. Atlanta’s just a village compared to New York.” “Uh-huh.” June remained silent this time for many minutes, and Wayne too seemed engrossed in thought. Finally, though, June said: “Mas’ Wayne, what we-all got to go to New York for, sir? Why don’t we stay jus’ where we is? We’s both of us got jobs here, an’ goodness only knows what’s goin’ to happen to us in that big ol’ place! Why don’t we stay put, Mas’ Wayne?” “Well,” answered the other slowly, “we started for New York, June, you know.” “Yes, sir, we surely done started for it, but we don’t have to get where we started for, does we? Ol’ Eph Jennings, he started for the circus one day but he fotched up in the calaboose, Mas’ Wayne. Startin’ an’ stoppin’s mighty different things, I reckon. Let’s us stay right here a little while longer, please, sir.” “All right, June. I--I guess I’d rather, anyway,” answered Wayne. The next morning he started at his new work, rather doubtful as to his ability to perform it satisfactorily but determined to try his very hardest. There were two reasons for that, one the necessity of earning money and the other a strong desire to please Jim Mason and prove that he had made no mistake in his choice of a helper. By evening of that first day, however, Wayne knew that the work was not beyond him, and he went home at dusk happy in the knowledge. Perhaps someone who had the interests of the boy less at heart might have made that first day in the freight house far from simple for him, for, of course, the duties were new and strange, but Jim was patient and explained everything clearly and in detail. Wayne found that his mathematical ability was more than enough to cope with such simple problems as fell to him. Most of that morning was occupied in filing away an accumulation of papers that had got far ahead of Jim during the time he had had no assistant. There were waybills to check after that, and once Wayne had to go up and down the yard on a vain search for a mislaid flat car loaded with two tractor engines. Jim, relieved of much of the clerical work, was busy outside most of the day, but he and Wayne ate their lunches together in the little office, Jim sharing the can of coffee he had brought.