Cameron with him.

But the man's departure had shattered his hopes, and Bob, with a feeling
of great loneliness, mechanically followed the other passengers from the
car out upon the wide platform. His feeling of isolation was made even
more poignant by the hearty greetings which sounded all around him, as
one after another of the people who had arrived on the same train were
met by their friends or families.

Following the crowd, he passed through the station out onto the
sidewalk. There he stood for a moment, searching the windows of the
buildings across the street for the name of the railway offices to which
Mr. Perkins had directed him.

With little difficulty he spied great gilt letters which formed the
words "Grand Pacific Railway," and picking his way carefully through the
throng of carriages, automobiles and trucks, which were passing up and
down the street, he soon reached the building, and was on the way to the
offices in the elevator.

Entering one of the doors, he beheld several handsomely polished desks,
at which busy men were seated.

Who the proper person was to whom to present his card for a pass, Bob
did not know, but after scrutinizing the faces of the various men in the
office, he selected one who seemed kind and pleasant, and was making his
way toward him, when he was confronted by a boy several inches smaller
than he was, clad in a green uniform trimmed with gold braid, who
demanded insolently:

"Here, you! Where do you think you are going? Who do you want to see?"

"I don't know exactly."

During this interchange of words, the office-boy had been scanning Bob
and his threadbare clothes contemptuously. And at the lad's reply, he
laughed outright, adding:

"Well, if you don't know who you want to see, you can't come in here."

"But I want to get a pass for Fairfax, Oklahoma," protested Bob.

"_You_ get a pass! Say, are you crazy? Only the general managers and the
other high officers travel on passes."

"But Mr. Perkins told me to come here," asserted Bob.

To what lengths this determination of the office-boy to get rid of Bob
would have gone there is no knowing, for the official whose desk was
nearest the railing in front of which Bob stood had been attracted by
the unusual occurrence, and as he heard Mr. Perkins' name spoken, he got
up, and beckoning to Bob, asked:

"What did you say about Mr. Perkins?"

"I said he told me to come here to get a pass to Fairfax, Oklahoma. That
is, h