. While the people about him talked in a
miscellaneous fashion, he did not join them, and his manner did not
invite approach even in those easy times.

Harry was interested greatly. The stranger presently opened a valise,
took out some food and ate delicately. Then he drew a small silver
cup from the same valise, filled it at the drinking stand, drank and
returned it to the valise. Without a crumb having fallen on clothing
or floor, he resumed his seat and gazed straight before him.

Harry's interest in the stranger increased. He had a fine face, cut
clearly, and of a somewhat severe and melancholy cast. Always he gazed
straight before him, and his mind seemed to be far from the people in
the car. It was obvious that he was not the ordinary traveler, and the
boy spent some time in trying to guess his identity. Then he gave it up,
because he was growing sleepy.

Excitement and the long physical strain were now telling upon Harry.
He leaned his head against the corner of the seat and the wall, drew his
overcoat as a blanket about his body and shoulders, and let his eyelids
droop. The dim train grew dimmer, and he slept.

The train was due at Nashville between midnight and morning, and Harry
was awakened by the conductor a half hour before he reached the city.
He shook himself, put on his overcoat that he had used as a blanket,
and tried to look through the window. He saw only darkness rushing past,
but he knew that he had left Kentucky behind, and it seemed to him that
he had come into an alien land, a land of future friends, no doubt,
but as yet, the land of the stranger.

All the people in the train were awakening, and were gathering their
baggage sleepily about them. But the stranger, who drank from the
silver cup, seemed not to have been asleep at all. He still sat rigidly
erect, and his melancholy look had not abated. His valise lay on the
seat beside him. Harry noticed that it was large and strong, with metal
clasps at the corners.

The engine was whistling already for Nashville, and Harry threw his
saddle bags over his arm. He was fully awake now, alert and eager.
This town of Nashville was full of promise. It had been the home of
the great Andrew Jackson, and it was one of the important cities of the
South, where cities were measured by influence rather than population,
because all, except New Orleans, were small.

As the train slowed down, Harry arose and stood in the aisle. The
stranger