The paper opposite again covered the first soldier’s hand, and observing closely, after a few minutes the boys were able to interpret the strokes of the wagging thumb with ease. They corresponded precisely to the strokes of a telegraph sounder, and of course were very much slower.
“... not much. I saw her first,” they read. “You have three girls at K now.... Get out. I’ll tell Maggie O’Rorke, and she’ll pick your eyes out.... No, sir. You can have the two old maids just back of you, and the fat party with the red hair. That’s your taste anyway.... If you spoke she’d freeze you so you’d never thaw out.”
The two boys exchanged glances, and chuckled in amusement.
“Say, look at the gaudy nose on that old chap across the aisle,” went on the wagging thumb. “Talk about danger signals! They ought to hire him to sit on the cow-catcher foggy nights.... I wouldn’t like to pay for all the paint it took to color it.... Plain whiskey, I guess. You can see what you are coming to if you don’t look out.... What’s the matter with that baby back there? Is the woman lynching it, or is it lynching the woman?... It’s not, either. It’s just like your high tenor, singing the Soldier’s Farewell. Only better. More in tune.... Yes, if they knew what we’d been saying about them there’d be a riot. I wouldn’t give much for your hair when the two old ladies behind got through with it.”
At this point, unable to resist the temptation, Alex nudged Jack, drew a pencil from his pocket, and slyly tapped on the metal of the seat-arm the two letters of the telegraph laugh, “Hi!”
The soldier opposite started, looked quickly over, caught the two boys’ twinkling eyes, and coloring, laughed heartily. Promptly then he raised his thumb, and wagged, “You young rascals! I’ll have you in the guard-house for stealing military information. Who are you?”
Alex replied, using his thumb as he had seen the soldier do; and the animated exchange of signals which followed continued until a whistle from the engine announced a stop, and the soldier wagged, “We get off here. Good-by.”
“Glad to have met you,” he said, smiling, as he and his companion passed them.
“Glad to have met you,” responded the boys heartily. “And to have got onto the signalling. It may come in useful some day,” Alex added. “Good day.”
“That’s just what I was thinking myself, Al,” declared Jack. “We must practice it.”