"We can go aboard in five minutes!" Russ added.
"That's good," sighed Ruth. "There's is nothing so tiresome as
waiting. Which track will it be on, Russ?"
"Number thirteen!"
"What! Great Scott! Track thirteen! I'm not going!" cried Pepper
Sneed, who had come to be known as the "grouch" of the company.
"Not going! Why not, I'd like to know?" demanded Mr. Pertell.
"Why--track thirteen--that's unlucky, you know. Something is sure to
happen!"
"Well, as we have to get to Beatonville, where Oak Farm is located,
and as this is the only road that goes there, I'm afraid we'll have
to take that train, whether it's on track thirteen or not," declared
Mr. Pertell. "Unless," he added with gentle sarcasm, "you can get the
company to switch it to another track."
Mr. Sneed did not answer, but later Paul Ardite, who was one of the
younger members of the company, saw the actor tieing a knot in his
watch chain, and tossing a penny into a rubbish heap.
"What in the world are you doing that for?" demanded Paul.
"Trying to break the hoodoo!" exclaimed Mr. Sneed. "To start out to
do new film work on track thirteen! Whew! That's terrible!"
But Paul only laughed.
"Now, is everyone here?" asked Mr. Pertell a little later, when a
railroad man, through a megaphone, announced the make-up of the
train.
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