With dismay and a feeling of foreboding, Bob watched the conductor go
from his car with the precious pass. He dared not protest; indeed, the
thought of the proper way to make an objection did not occur to him. In
fact, he did not know that he could do so, and his own temerity in
calling attention to the fact that it was made out had startled him. But
bitterly did he rue his suggestion that the conductor keep the
all-important paper until he was satisfied as to its genuineness.

In a few minutes Bob noticed the brakeman come into the car and stare at
him. But he did not know that the man had done so in obedience to the
order of the conductor, who had told the trainman to take a look at Bob,
and then to take care that the boy did not try to leave the train until
the matter of the pass had been properly cleared up.

As the train whirled through the darkness of the night, Bob occasionally
caught a glimpse of light in the scattered houses or towns through which
it passed, but so dark was it that he could see nothing of the country.

Dropping his chair back, the boy tried to go to sleep, but his anxiety
over the safety of his pass made it impossible, though he dropped into a
doze several times only to awake with a start.

In the meantime, the conductor had sent a telegram to the offices in
Chicago where Bob had obtained the transportation, asking if a pass had
been issued to Bob Chester, and requesting a description of that
individual.

Whenever the conductor walked through the car, Bob inquired anxiously as
to when he should receive the important piece of paper back again, but
the man in charge of the train only answered gruffly:

"You'll get it back soon enough, if it's all right."

"But if it isn't?" asked Bob, in a boyish eagerness to know the exact
conditions he was facing.

"You'll be put off the train, anyhow, and perhaps you will have to go to
jail."

As the conductor announced this alternative, he watched Bob closely, and
the start the latter gave at the mention of the possibility of arrest,
only confirmed the man in his suspicion that there was something
irregular about the boy's having the free transportation. But as the
reader knows, it was no thought of the pass being spurious that
disturbed Bob. The word "jail" had brought to his mind his unpleasant
experience in New York.

From thinking about his arrest and the men who had been its cause, Bob
went over in his mind all the events that had transpired