CHAPTER V
At eight o'clock the Al Vista band played "Home, Sweet Home,"
and, following the hurried rush through the twilight to the
picnic train, the four managed to get double seats facing each
other. When the aisles and platforms were packed by the hilarious
crowd, the train pulled out for the short run from the suburbs
into Oakland. All the car was singing a score of songs at once,
and Bert, his head pillowed on Mary's breast with her arms around
him, started "On the Banks of the Wabash." And he sang the song
through, undeterred by the bedlam of two general fights, one on
the adjacent platform, the other at the opposite end of the car,
both of which were finally subdued by special policemen to the
screams of women and the crash of glass.
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