There were few passengers in the train; in Dick’s car not more than three or four, and he settled himself comfortably in a corner and fell to reading. Suddenly he was roused, after an hour or two, by the stopping of the train and the pouring into every car of a crowd of people. It was a country town at which the train had stopped, and a fair was in progress. The people were going home from the fair. In a minute or two Dick’s car, like all the other cars in the train, was packed with people. They not only occupied every seat, but crowded the aisles. There were a few women and children, but most of the newcomers were men; and Dick noticed that nearly all of the men were somewhat under the influence of liquor. The train had not gone more than two or three miles after leaving the station before two of the men who stood in the aisle directly by the side of Dick’s seat began to quarrel, and from quarreling they soon went on to fighting. After a few blows with their fists they drew knives and began to lunge at each other. In a minute the friends of the two men joined in the fracas, some on one side and some on the other, and the fight became general. Many of the other men drew knives, several shots were fired, the women and children screamed, and the whole car was in an uproar. The worst of the fight was almost directly over Dick’s head. “Gentlemen, you’ll have to stop this or get off the train!” the conductor shouted as he entered the car. But he might as well have talked to the waves of the sea. Half the men were fighting, and the others seemed unconcerned. The conductor pulled the bell-rope to stop the train, and went out to summon the train hands to his assistance. Before he reached the door his foot slipped; and Dick, looking down, saw that he had slipped in a pool of blood. Somebody had been cut. One man had been pushed through a window and held so far out that Dick was afraid his head would strike a telegraph pole. Three or four seats just opposite Dick had been ripped out and lay overturned on the floor. Just as the train stopped, the conductor entered the car at the other end, accompanied by several train hands. As he entered, a man who had been in the car all the way from Wheeling, stood up and spoke to him. Dick noticed that the man was very large; well over six feet high, and broad in proportion; and that he wore good black clothes. “Conductor,” said the big man in a loud voice, “you must stop this riot. I call on you to stop the fighting in this car.” “I can’t do it,” the conductor replied; “I haven’t men enough on the train to stop it.” “Then call on your passengers!” the big man shouted; “you are entitled to call on the passengers to assist you.” “Very well,” said the conductor, as though he would clinch the argument on the spot; “I call on you!”