It had been decided by the members of the Pleiades Club to send out a special train with attendants to gather in any and all stray members found loitering, so to speak, at the different wayside stopping places between the Earth and Mars and bring them all into the fold under the shadow of the Telegraphers’ Tabernacle. There were a number who did not respond to the roll call, and while not believing that anything could be lost in God’s great economic universe, still it was thought only right to gather everybody in and have all in their respective places.
Commodore R. R. Haines, who was a leader during his sojourn on Earth, was appointed Captain of the expedition and a delegation selected from every section of the country and Canada were invited to accompany the craft to identify all telegraph people eligible for membership who were idling their time away among the many stopping places on this long journey.
It had been resolved to begin at the moon and work the way back, so Luna was the first satellite to be visited and, lo and behold, Edward C. Cockey came to greet the searching party.
Mr. Cockey was astonished to see his visitors and was not at all loath to join them, the only regret he expressed being that now the sentimental young ladies would have no one to watch over them from the moon. He asked if the “Man in the Moon” was still talked about on Earth and was assured that he was. Aaron Hilliker sang:
“I’m in love with the man in the moon, And I’m going to marry him soon, And behind some dark cloud, where there’s no one allowed, I’ll make love to the man in the moon.”
“That settles it and I’m with you even if I must desert my kingdom forever,” cried “Happy” Cockey, as he took passage in Electric No. 1, bound for the outer regions.
The next stopping place will be “500,000-mile station,” said Captain Haines, “and I believe we will find some notable personage there.”
It took but one hour for Electric No. 1 to make the journey to Skippityvous, as the retreat was named by Tom Dushane, the only Frenchman aboard.
“What do you know about that?” cried Ed. C. Keeler, “I’ll be jiggered if there isn’t Col. L. D. Parker, Charles Thomas, Frank Kingsbury and Arthur W. Copp sitting out there under a big oak tree playing a series of delightful games.”