ulous things for a moment. There wasn't time for them to be
anything else; for, about one minute after he had jumped to the
platform, he was O.S.-ing "out" the train that had brought him in.

It wasn't quite what he had been used to back in the more sedate East,
and he grinned a little to himself as his fingers tapped the key, and
by the time he had got back his O. K. the tail of the caboose was
swinging a curve and disappearing out of sight. The Kid, then, had a
chance to look around him--and look for Dan McGrew, the man who was to
be his sole companion for the days to come.

He found McGrew upstairs--after he had explored all there was to
explore of the ground floor of the station, which was a sort of
combination kitchen, living room and dining room that led off from the
office--just the two rooms below, with a ladder-like staircase between
them leading up above. And above there was just the one room under the
eaves with two bunks in it, one on either side. The night man was
asleep in one of these, and the Kid did not disturb him. After a
glance around the rather cheerless sleeping quarters, he returned
downstairs, and started in to pick up the threads of the office.

Dusk comes early in the fall in the mountains, and at five o'clock the
switch and semaphore lamps were already lighted, and in the office
under a green-shaded lamp the Kid sat listening to some stray time
stuff coming over the wire, when he heard the night man moving overhead
and presently start down the stairs. The Kid pushed back his chair,
rose to his feet, and turned with outstretched hand to make friends
with his new mate--and his outstretched hand drew back and reached
uncertainly to the table edge beside him.

For a long minute neither man spoke--staring into each other's eyes.
In the opening through the partition at the foot of the stairs, Dan
McGrew seemed to sway a little on his feet, and his face, what could be
seen of it through the tawny beard that Angel Forks had offered him no
incentive to shave, was ashen white.

It was McGrew who broke the silence.

"Hello, Charlie!" he said in a sort of cheerful bravado, that rang far
from true.

"So _you_ are Dan McGrew! The last time I heard of you your name was
Brodie." The Kid's lips, as he spoke, hardly seemed to move.

"I've had a dozen since then," said McGrew, in a pleading whine,
"more'n a dozen. I've been chased from place to place, Charlie. I've
lived a dog's life, and----"