CHAPTER XXXI
FUGITIVE
Rodeo, Hachita, Monument--long hours between each town as the local did
its variable thirty-five miles an hour across the southern end of New
Mexico. It was Pete's first experience in traveling by rail, and true
to himself he made the most of it. He used his eyes, and came to the
conclusion that they were aboard a very fast train--a train that "would
sure give a thoroughbred the run of its life"--Pete's standard of speed
being altogether of the saddle--and that more people got on and off
that train than could possibly have homes in that vast and uninhabited
region. The conductor was an exceedingly popular individual. Every
one called him by his "front name," which he acknowledged pleasantly in
like manner. Pete wondered if the uniformed gentleman packed a gun;
and was somewhat disappointed when he discovered that that protuberance
beneath the conductor's brass-buttoned coat was nothing more deadly
than a leather wallet, pretty well filled with bills and loose
silver--for that isolated railroad did a good cash business and
discriminating conductors grew unobtrusively wealthy.
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