Benny looked around upon the weather-beaten, kindly faces, and a big lump came up in his throat which caused him no slight effort in the swallowing of it. He had known these men hardly more than twenty-four hours, and yet in that time they had shown themselves as well disposed as if they had been his best friends, and the thought of leaving them to go among strangers brought the boy genuine sorrow. He buried his face in Fluff’s silken hair for an instant, and then, looking up, said with a brave effort to prevent his lip from quivering, although he could not choke back the tremor in his voice: “I am ready to go now, sir.” “According to the looks of things you ain’t mightily pleased at the prospect of leaving,”--and Thomas Downey glanced meaningly at his comrades. “You’ve all been very good to me, sir, and if you’d ever known how lonesome it is to be alone, same’s Fluff and I are now, you couldn’t wonder that we was a little mite sorry to go away from such a nice place; but I’ll----” Again Benny buried his face in Fluff’s coat that he might have time to choke back the rebellious sobs, and Sam Hardy whispered in a voice that was not remarkable for its steadiness: “It’s too bad to keep the little duffer in suspense, Tom.” “He’s showing what he’s made of now.” “And he’s got grit,” Joe Cushing added. By this time Benny had conquered his emotions once more, and looking up said with a feeble attempt at a smile: “You’ve all been awful good to Fluff and me, and we sha’n’t forget it. Unless we’re going too far away, both of us would like to come back once in a while to see you.” “But you don’t want to leave before breakfast?” Tom Downey suggested, and Benny, manfully struggling with this new grief, replied: “I ain’t hungry; but if you’ll give Fluff a little something,--’cause he’s a dog an’ don’t really know all that’s happening----” “I reckon we needn’t keep this up any longer, lad. You’ve got a job, an’ we’re hoping there won’t be any call to leave this ’ere station; but if it can’t be fixed as we’ve reckoned on, you shall live close by. There’s nothing in the rules to prevent your comin’ here every day, for regulation number one, nought, seven, regarding the conduct of keepers, says that they must be ‘courteous and polite to visitors,’ but it don’t state how often a visitor may come.” The members of the crew expressed their satisfaction in various ways at the keeper’s astuteness in thus discovering a means of at least partially carrying out their desires, in case the head of the Department disapproved of their taking on an assistant; but Benny looked about him in perplexity. He failed utterly to understand the proposition which Tom Downey believed had been made exceedingly plain, and Sam Hardy took it upon himself to explain what they, as a crew, proposed doing.