And what was
still more strange to Pete was the fact that the conductor seemed to
know where each person was going, without having to refer to any
penciled notation or other evident data.
The conductor was surprisingly genial, even to strangers, for, having
announced that the next station was El Paso, he took the end seat of
the combination baggage and smoking car, spread out his report sheet,
and as he sorted and arranged the canceled tickets, he chatted with
Pete and Brevoort, who sat facing him. Had they heard the news?
Brevoort shook his head. Well, there had been a big fight down along
the line, between the northern cattlemen and Arguilla's soldiers. It
was rumored that several American cowboys had been killed. He had
heard this from the agent at Hermanas, who had "listened in" on the
wire to El Paso. Perhaps they had heard about it, though, as they had
come up from that way. No? Well, the El Paso papers already had the
news, by wire. How was the cattle business going, anyway?
Brevoort said that it was pretty fair.
The conductor knew of a nice little hotel near the station--in fact he
stopped there himself.
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