184 THE COUNTRY BOY 



San Francisco with that kind of a vahse." 

 A few in the car laughed, but at that time I 

 didn't see the joke. Finally one of the drum- 

 mers said if I'd open and they got a look in- 

 side of it, he could tell if it was a real one. He 

 said if the colors came clear through the cloth, 

 it's real; if they don't, it's just an imitation. 

 So I opened it and he put his head inside of it. 

 He said: "Yes, it is a real one; they come all 

 the way through." 



I had never slept on a train, so, after I 

 watched them take down a few berths, I went 

 to bed just for the novelty of it, taking upper 

 eight. In the middle of the night, a drummer 

 who had got on the train after I had gone to 

 bed, and was going to get off before I would 

 be up in the morning, said that he would like 

 to see that valise, if it was not too much 

 trouble. So I dug it from under my pillow 

 and showed it to him with the greatest of 

 pride. I remember the drummer said he was 

 sorry he wasn't going to San Francisco with 

 me, but he said he wouldn't be there until the 

 next week. I told him I guessed I'd remem- 

 ber him and should like to see him. 



The next day across the mountains there 



