"All right--George," said Roy, beginning to understand something of matters. "I'll call you if I want you." "Dey calls out when it's meal time." "What's that?" "I say dey calls out when it's meal time. De dining car potah will call out when it's time fo' dinner." "Oh," remarked Roy, rather dubiously, for he did not know exactly what was meant. The porter left him, laughing to himself at the lack of knowledge shown by the boy from the ranch, but for all that George Washington St. Louis Algernon Theophilus Brown resolved to do all he could for Roy. As for the young traveler he was so interested in the scenery, as it appeared to fly past the broad windows of the car, that he did not worry about what he was going to do when it came meal time. Still, after an hour or so of looking out of the window it became a little tiresome, and he turned around to observe his fellow passengers. Seated near him was a well-dressed man, who had quite a large watch chain strung across his vest. He had a sparkling stone in his necktie, and another in a ring on his finger. "Your first trip East?" he asked, nodding in a friendly way to Roy. "My first trip, of any account, anywhere. I haven't taken a long railroad journey since I was a baby, and I don't remember that." "I thought you looked as if you hadn't been a very great distance away from home. Going far?" "To New York." "Ah you have business there, I suppose?" Now Roy, though he was but a youth, unused to the ways of the world, had much natural shrewdness. He had been brought up in the breeziness of the West, where it is not considered good form, to say the least, to ask too many questions of a man. If a person wanted to tell you his affairs, that was a different matter. So, as Roy's mission was more or less of a secret one, he decided it would not be well to talk about it, especially to strangers. So he answered: "Yes, I have some business there." His manner was such that the man soon saw the boy did not care to talk about his affairs, and, being a keen observer, too much so for Roy's good, as we shall soon see, the man did not pursue his questioning on those lines. "Fine scenery," he remarked. "Good, open country around here." Roy felt that was a safe enough subject to talk about, and he and the man, who introduced himself as Mr. Phelan Baker, spent some time in conversation. Roy, however, was continually wondering what he should do when the announcement was made that dinner was to be served. He did not want to make any mistakes, and have the car full of passengers laugh at him, yet he did not know what was proper to do under the circumstances. He had neglected to Inquire how they served meals on trains, and, in fact, had he done so, no one at the ranch could have told him, as not even Mr. Bradner had traveled enough to make it necessary to eat in a dining car.