"Why, he's never been in America. They don't have cabooses in England. You ought to know that," said Ralph.
"Oh, yes, Mr. Conductor, over in the United States all our freight trains have cabooses on the rear end for the use of the train hands," said Alfred.
"Freight trains! My word, you confuse me. And what do you mean by train hands?" he asked.
"Well, this is a freight train, and your men are train hands," said Ralph.
"Ah! you mean goods train and train crews," said the man.
The boys laughed heartily, as this was really the first opportunity they had for a lark since they reached France.
The laughter seemed to infect the conductor. Two of the train crew came forward, and finally joined in the conversation, and the matter of the permit was entirely forgotten. The conductor turned out to be really human after all. What interested him was the information that the boys were Americans, and when Ralph told them that they were aviators and had been in a fight above the clouds, they fairly owned the train, and everybody in it.
In due time they reached what is known as Siding 8, one of the regular stations on the way. It was a military road, passage on the trains being permitted only by means of written orders. The boys knew this, of course, but they had had months of experience in traveling over roads of this character, and knew the value of bluff and of assuming situations which would be hard to controvert. At any rate they were now sure of reaching the end of the journey without molestation.
They felt sure of this until the train stopped at Siding 8. A pompous individual approached the group.