"Have one, Andy? Help yourself, Merritt. Just hold this box a minute, Rob," he continued indistinctly as his heavy jaws met on the sticky, nutty mouthful.

"No more for me, thank you," replied Andy with a little gesture of refusal. "Just about one makes a satisfactory between-meal, in my opinion."

"None for me," rejoined Merritt, also. "I have barely succeeded in washing off the sticky traces of my last 'kiss.'"

"But what is the surprise, Tubby?" demanded Rob, keeping his finger in the folded time table as he accommodatingly held the box.

"Come over to this bench in the shade," directed Tubby importantly, "and I will unveil the mystery!"

The boys winked amusedly at one another as they followed Tubby. They expected nothing more serious than a joke, and Rob was a little impatient at the interruption.

"I couldn't tell you at first," Tubby went on, sinking upon the seat as the boys reached it, "because Uncle Mark told me to say nothing until we were ready to leave Mexico. And then I didn't dare share the news so long as Jared was around. But now----"

Tubby paused dramatically, and drew out of an inner pocket a sealed envelope that bulged invitingly. This he turned over several times, apparently in an absent manner, and then looked up to see how the boys were taking it.

"What in the world----" began Andy wonderingly.

"Out with it, Tubby!" cried Rob. "I'm in a hurry to look up the first train that leaves here, going our way."

"You needn't hurry," replied Tubby deliberately. "We shall not leave until the evening train for the north."

"Come, Tubby," urged Merritt, "what is up your sleeve?"

"Oh, it is in my hand now," said Tubby teasingly. "Now listen, fellers!

When Uncle Mark bought our tickets, he secured them through a friend who is in a big touring agency, you know. Instead of buying straight-through, round-trip tickets, he got the return set with stop-over privileges, and had a little private itinerary arranged for us.

"We leave El Paso to-night and have an hour or two in Albuquerque to-morrow morning, before we take the train east. Beyond that, I know no more than the rest of you,--but here goes!"

With a quick motion, Tubby tore open the sealed envelope and took out four long combination tickets, and a typewritten list of directions.

"Here, Rob, you read them to us," he said, handing over the paper.

"This gives us stop-overs at Albuquerque, St. Louis and Washington,"

remarked Rob, glancing hastily at the items. "Each stop is for less than a day, and we travel every night. Hurray for Uncle Mark!"

"And a tiger!" added Andy enthusiastically.

"And many _bravos_," supplemented Merritt, his eyes shining at the prospect. "I have always wanted to visit Washington, but, with all our travels, we have managed to skip straight to our destinations without stopping anywhere."

"At this rate," commented Andy, "it will take us a good deal longer to get home!"

"Even so," agreed Tubby. "But who is in a hurry now? Give them time to finish their repairs on the old Academy, Andy."

That evening, as arranged, the four boys took the train from El Paso. As they sat on the observation platform for an hour before turning in, Rob remarked:

"Do you realize that we have been in the largest state in the Union,--Texas? I can't appreciate it, for we have seen such a little portion of the northwest corner. They say that El Paso, high and dry, is the most isolated of the larger cities, and that irrigation has done much to increase its products and its population."

"I was surprised to learn that it is an important station on at least five big railway lines," added Merritt.

"But we have used the city in its most particular capacity," interjected Tubby proudly. "You know it is called 'the doorway to Mexico'!"

"And I guess that we are not very sorry to be on this side of the door!"

commented Andy with a nod of his head.

All that night the train rumbled northward, never departing far from the course of the Rio Grande, as if following it toward its source. And when the boys awoke they were approaching Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they were to breakfast and to spend some time before making their east-bound connections.

"Whoop-ee! Look at the gay buildings!" cried Tubby, thrusting his head out of the car window as the train slowed down. "Is that what you'd call modified adobe architecture?"

"You may wish to modify that statement later," remarked Merritt dryly, "so I will pull you in before you lose the top of your think-tank."

"All ready, boys?" called Rob briskly. "All out for breakfast!"

"Right here," replied Tubby promptly. "Hope we'll have a good one."

"We shall. The chain of restaurants along this line has a great reputation," Rob rejoined, smiling at Tubby's eagerness. "Got everything, Andy?"

The four boys and a few fellow pa.s.sengers, likewise eastward bound, alighted from the train as soon as it had stopped and took a bee-line for the dining-room, scarcely noticing their unique surroundings. But after even Tubby had p.r.o.nounced his breakfast amply satisfying, the boys stepped outside with eyes and ears open for new impressions.

As they strolled along the broad, low piazza of the long Alvarado, Tubby peered through the arched sides toward the railroad.

"See the procession of Indians!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "They are wearing all the clothes they own and carrying the rest of their worldly possessions on their heads!"

Andy laughed outright at this observation. "Did you ever see such clumsy legs?" he chuckled. "They are padded like a football player's."

"Worse!" commented Merritt, joining the discussion. "And those are women, too."

At that moment the line of approaching Indians broke into several groups.

Each woman squatted down on the edge of the sidewalk leading to the main entrance of the Indian Building, and spread about her the baskets and pottery which she had been carrying on her head.

The few Indian men who had sauntered on before the procession lounged nonchalantly against the arches near the doorway, gazing at their women in superior disdain.

As the boys approached, the men merely looked at them from under the black locks that straggled almost into their eyes; but the women rose clumsily to their feet, pulled their big plaid shawls more closely about their heads, and hastened to offer their wares.

"By the way, fellers," said Tubby quietly, turning to the other boys, "Uncle Mark said to tell you to pick up some souvenirs and he would foot the bill. In fact, he gave me another sealed envelope marked 'Incidentals,' and I found four ten-dollar bills in it when I opened it last night. So go ahead, and select some things for the home folks."

"Tubby, your uncle is certainly all right!" exclaimed Andy.

"Well, he is some grateful, you know," returned Tubby.

"We won't refuse such a chance," remarked Rob appreciatively, "and I see a basket right now that would look fine on my mother's sewing table."

"Let's go inside and look around first," suggested Merritt. "It looks like a museum in there."

For the next hour the boys were absorbed in the interesting things displayed in the various sections of the Indian Building.

"Jiminy," cried Andy, as he caught sight of a bark canoe suspended from the ceiling, "there is the genuine article, all right!"

"Doesn't that rug make you think of a cozy den at home, Rob?" added Merritt a moment later.