e's a parlor coach fo' Atlanty."

"Wh--where is my train then?" asked Ralph, not knowing what to do next.

"Ain't made up yet," called the porter as the cars moved away, leaving
the lad looking about him rather foolishly.

"Made a jack of myself again," said he, as he remembered that the agent
had told Emmons when they bought their tickets, that the Savannah train
would not leave for an hour.

He returned to the waiting room and sat there very quietly until the
time was nearly up, then went out and found the proper car without
further difficulty.

That long night's ride was interesting though tiresome. Ralph tried to
count the telegraph poles without understanding much about their uses.

The low, level country, the tall trunks of the pines, the ever present
negroes, the sparks from the engine, and the occasional interruptions
from the conductor, kept him from sleep until long after midnight.

Finally, however, he coiled himself up on the seat and knew nothing
more until some one shook him by the shoulder.

"Is yo' gwine ter stay in yere all day?" asked a voice.

Ralph sat up and rubbed his eyes. The sun was shining and the car
empty, with the exception of himself and a negro brakeman, who had
awakened him from an unusually sound slumber.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"We'se in Savanny. Been yere nigh 'bout an hour. I seed yo' was
tired, an' I 'lowed I'd let yer sleep. But I'se got ter sweep out now."

When Ralph emerged from the depot he found himself on a sandy unpaved
street, with many half shabby frame houses about and a number of tall
pines in the distance.

He followed a line of trucks and drays towards the business part of the
city, and presently dropped into a cheap eating house for breakfast.

After that he began to inquire for the Marshall House, which he found
to be a large, red brick hostelry, with a broad second story veranda in
front. The sidewalk beneath was sprinkled with chairs partially
occupied by men reading their morning papers or smoking.

A few glanced curiously at the roughly dressed boy, who made his way
into a large hall and office combined, where trunks and grips were
stacked up by the score, and trim porters and waiters were gliding to
and fro.

He instantly felt himself out of place amid those well dressed people,
and smart servants. It was his first experience with a first class
city hotel.

So low did his courage ebb at first that he very nearly made up his
mind to