The train was speeding swiftly when breakfast was announced in the
diner.... My eyes surveyed the passengers with more than ordinary
interest, not that I was looking for a familiar face, but because
I was attracted by the appearance of several gentlemen who gave the
impression that they were not Americans.... It was my conclusion that
the faces in which I was interested included those of one Englishman,
one German and two Frenchmen. They seemed to avoid conversation with
each other, both here and later in the Pullman cars, and I began to
think of them as secret agents who were operating in connection with
the business end of the war in Europe.
At the first call for lunch I again made my way to the diner
and noticed that the gentleman whom I had suspected of being an
Englishman was seated at a small table by himself. This appeared
to be my opportunity to study him more closely and I took the seat
left unoccupied at the same table, facing him squarely, and began
a conversation about the weather and other topics which usually
are uppermost in the semi-vacant mind. My first effort secured the
information that he had boarded the train at Niagara Falls and was
ticketed for New York, where he had very important business not
entirely of a personal nature. His conversation was guarded and
considerate, while mine began to appear evasive; at least this is my
estimate of the diplomacy we were practising.
Several years before I had been told by a court-joker, of which there
are many in Europe, that the name of Hanson is borne by one-third of
the people of Denmark and that the remainder of the populace in that
country is largely of the Holst, Peters and Larsen families. Now, under
these circumstances, if I would gain the confidence of this fellow
traveler, I could not reveal my real identity, but, instead, must
choose one or more of the methods of concealment which are so common in
detective work.
"I take you to be an Englishman, or at least an English subject," said
I, after a pause.
He smiled knowingly and answered affirmatively, saying, "Your guess is
correct in both particulars."
"Well," I continued, "I was born English, that is, I hail from the
Australian state of Victoria, near the city of Hamilton, where my
father settled on land nearly seventy years ago."
"Oh, indeed," said he, "then you must know much of Ballarat and
Melbourne and Geelong, where I have been often."
After this our conversation was easy and covered a wide range of
topics. Luckily we did not occupy seats in the same Pullman car, hence
we agreed to meet at Albany and take dinner together on the run from
that city to New York. I indicate that it was fortunate that we did not
occupy seats in the same car, and I found it so, because it gave me an
opportunity to plan a line of conversation for the evening ride.