about noon
Mr. Dunston Porter had found some congenial spirits in the smoking-compartment of the car and spent a good deal of his time there . He met a man who had done considerable hunting in the West , and the two `` swapped yarns , '' as Mr. Porter said afterwards . Only a short stop was made at Buffalo , just long enough to allow the boys and some of the men to stretch their legs on the depot platform , and then the excursion train started on its trip along the shore of Lake Erie towards the great Windy City , as Chicago is sometimes called . Morning found the party well on the way to Chicago , and that metropolis of the Great Lakes was reached about noon . Lunch had already been served , and at the depot all hands found a string of touring automobiles awaiting them , to take them around to various points of interest , including the business section , the finer residential district , and Lincoln Park , with its Zoölogical Garden . Some of the party went in a different direction , to visit the Stock Yards , that great place where hundreds of cattle are slaughtered daily . `` By the great tin dipper ! ''