“If training’s any indication they’ve certainly been preparing us for that.”
They turned out the light and after a while Mabel raised the shade a little. She lifted her head and peered out. After an interval she whispered, “Nancy, we really are heading west!”
“How can you tell?”
“By the stars. See—yonder’s the North Star, and the Big Dipper low on the horizon.”
Nancy remembered enough from her Girl Scout days to recognize the northern constellation at the left of the train. For several minutes she kept lifting her head to peer out, and assure herself that they were really keeping an even course into the west. Finally she settled back with a feeling of great satisfaction and tried to sleep.
The Pullman was silent now, except for the humming of the wheels beneath them. Nancy was almost asleep when she heard a peculiar sound overhead. She opened her eyes and saw through a crack at the edge of the berth that Tini’s light still burned. She concentrated her attention on the almost imperceptible sound. It was like the scratching of a pen on paper. Instantly she knew Tini was at her letter writing again.
“Do you hear something, Mabel?” she asked, nudging her friend.
Mabel lifted a sleepy head to listen. “Somebody writing with a scratchy pen. Must be Tini. Never would have thought she’d be careful enough to keep a diary.”
“Maybe it’s a letter.”
“But Miss Hauser asked us only to send cards.”