After another Sunday layover, they “came within an ace of missing’ their engagement in Brockville, Canada, spending “11½ hours making a 7-hour trip" there for an appearance Monday evening. [From page 448 The Life of Mark Twain - The Middle Years 1871-1891]

February 16 Monday – In a Feb. 17 letter to Livy, Sam explained why he did not write on Feb. 16. On the train all day, Cable asked to borrow Sam’s writing pad. Though it was “pretty thin,” Sam thought there’d be enough. Cable wrote eight letters and used up the pad.