east end of the hall, winding around the largest clock Jon had ever seen in his life.  The Gardner boys regarded the place with wonder, faces pressed close to the window.

            “This is the crossroads of the continent,” Professor Sheridan informed them, straightening his hat carefully.  “We will change trains here, and be able to stretch our legs.”

            “Do they have papers?” Jon asked, hearing his own voice rather smaller and more breathless than he wanted. 

            “Quite a few.  I telegraphed ahead to have certain titles bundled and ready for my arrival.  We shall have a pile of reading for the next leg of our journey.”

            Jon returned the Professor’s smile readily.

            Tam insisted on carrying both cases of luggage—Jon’s, heavy with books and papers, and his own lighter case with the broken handle that had to be held just so.  Professor Sheridan, as before, carried only his satchel.

            As they stepped down off the train Professor Sheridan checked his pocket watch against the large clock on the eastern wall and satisfied himself that it was correct.  He slipped the watch back into a frayed pocket of his waistcoat.  “Come along.  Let us see if we can brave the crowd and find some tea before our train comes in.”

            Tam followed after the Professor, lugging both cases, and Jon tried as best he could to keep up, despite the crowd pressing all round.  He heard Tam mutter something about more people than he’d ever seen, but then his brother’s voice was lost in the howl of steam from a train pulling out.  A man in a heavy fur pushed Jon sideways out of his way, and out of sight of Tam and the Professor.  Jon had a frightening moment trying to find them again while caught behind a large procession of porters pulling along big carts of luggage.   He was shoved first to one side then another, but found himself at last pushed along to an archway where a very panicked looking Tam and the calmer Professor were waiting for him. 

            “You hold to my coat now,” Tam ordered.   “I’d have you hold my hand but I can’t with the cases.  One of those luggage men tried to take them from me, if you’ll believe it.  I won’t go letting someone else carry our things to who knows where.  You stay close now.”

            “Why don’t you walk at my side?” the Professor suggested. 

            He ushered them carefully through a small maze of galleries full of shops, and up an ornate iron stair to a tea shop, where he settled the boys at a table on a balcony overlooking the terminal.  He ordered tea and cakes for two, then stood.  “I will be back in a moment.  I’m going to pick up those papers.”

            The boys were able, from the vantage of the balcony, to admire the great terminal at their leisure.

            “This is as big as the Great Hall in Shandor, maybe,” Jon said.

            “Nah.  The Hall is higher,” Tam insisted, looking impressed nonetheless.

            “Look at all the trains.  I bet you could travel anywhere in the world from here.”

            “Not to Shandor you couldn’t.  You have to go on good honest horseback all the way from Sherard station to get to Markerry and out to our farm. We don’t need trains back home.”

            Jon remembered the horse ride to the first train station fondly, but he liked the trains just as well.  “I wonder what the next train will be like.  Maybe there will be even more cars this time.  The Professor says some trains have dozens of cars.  That one down there has twenty-three.”

            “The next train will be like our last train,” Tam grumbled, rubbing his back. “Rumbly, fast and loud.  You’d think a thing going on two rails could travel smooth.”

            The tea came then, with an assortment of little cakes that neither brother could find any reason to grumble about.

            “Ought we to save some for the Professor?” Jon wondered, a little too late, looking at the single cake remaining.

            “I’ve the money from Mum.  I’ll stand a second course if he wants some,” Tam decided.  Comforted by this decision, they split the last cake between them.  The Professor appeared a moment later, carrying in both arms a bundle of papers so thick it made Jon’s heart leap.  The Professor insisted on paying the bill, over Tam’s protestations, though when Tam saw what the bill was for tea and cakes for two at the grand terminal he turned a little pale.  “Please, gentlemen,” the Professor said, “you are both my guests.”  With that he ordered a box of the cakes to take along, and gave them to Jon to carry for safekeeping.

            They wound their way back down the staircase and out into the crowd again.  Jon was very careful to stay close beside Professor Sheridan, and so it was that he saw the dark ragged boy in the oversized coat deliberately bump into the Professor and snatch his pocket watch.

            Jon cried out indignantly.  The urchin regarded him with cool defiance, and just as suddenly as he had appeared, he dashed off into the crowd with the Professor’s watch in hand.

© 2007 Ruth Lampi