A traveling salesman tells two listeners that he had an experience on his last trip to Crescent City, where they are at the moment. The man tells the listeners that he was driving in on the highway listening to dinner music when he saw a hitchhiker on the road ahead of him. The salesman stopped for the hitchhiker because the music had put him in a good mood. The hitchhiker seemed to be about thirty and he had a suitcase with stickers all over it. The hitchhiker asked for a ride to town, and the salesman agreed. At first the salesman thought that the hitchhiker was sick, because he was sitting limply. However, he sees his hands set out on his legs intentionally and knows that he is sitting limply on purpose. A song came on the radio called the Wabash Blues, and the hitchhiker said that the song always made him think of June. When the salesman thought he was talking about the month, he explained that June was his first partner and she had died. The hitchhiker reveals that he is a marathon dancer by the name of the Lone Pioneer. The salesman explains to his listeners what a marathon dance is like, because he went to see the Lone Pioneer the next Saturday in a dance. He says that there were thousands of people in the audience, and a couple will dance for forty-five minutes and then rest for fifteen. The dancers have books that they pass around about their histories and they are given a lot of money. The Lone Pioneer started dancing ten years ago, and the conditions were more crude because the events had just started. He and a girl named June from his hometown went to a dance for fun, but then they were hooked. They started to develop technique like not using unnecessary muscles and relaxing during rest periods. They fell in love, and made plans to become the champion marathon dancers of America. The manager of the dance suggested they have a marathon dance wedding. June had been getting tired at this point, but she perked up when the plans for the wedding were made. Lots of people came to watch the dance, and they received many gifts. Then, the night before the ceremony was to take place, June collapsed in the Lone Pioneer's arms. The Wabash Blues was playing. The doctor looked serious, but June told the Lone Pioneer to carry on solo and win for the both of them. The newspaper got a hold of the story and the dance was shut down a few days later. The Lone Pioneer went home as soon as he could, and they were burying June the day he arrived. June had told her mother to tell the Lone Pioneer that he should continue with their dream, so he starts entering dances alone and he makes a book of his history. He had competed in more than twenty marathons since then, and he had used the money from the book to get a tombstone for June. The salesman explains that when he met the Lone Pioneer, the dancer was having a hard time, and that's why he was hitchhiking. He had decided that he wanted to get June a mausoleum, but he lost his money trying to gamble for more. He was starting to get on his feet again when he got into trouble at a dance. The manager didn't want him to enter, because last time he had gotten more contributions than the other dancers, and the manager did not want other contestants to be scared away. He let the Lone Pioneer enter, but he picked a girl for him to dance with, and he collected all the contributions and divided them equally among the dancers. The girl that the manager picked for the Lone Pioneer to dance with looked a lot like June, and the Lone Pioneer tried to ignore it but after dancing for four weeks together, he kissed her while she was asleep and he was carrying her. However, the girl had actually been awake, and the Lone Pioneer was disqualified for making improper advances towards her. The Lone Pioneer felt horrible about it, and the salesman says that he saw the girl when he went to the dance. The salesman says that everyone should come tonight to watch the Lone Pioneer dance. He and the girl who looks like June are going to have a marathon wedding, and they are calling it an Honor Wedding. The newspaper tells of how the Lone Pioneer kissed her but will now marry her to make everything okay, and of the girl June he used to love and how this girl, named Mary Francis, understands and forgives him. The salesman takes credit for her forgiving him, because when he saw her at the dance, he went up to her and told her all of the things that the Lone Pioneer had told him, and showed her that the dancer was a fine fellow. Now, the salesman says that it was a real experience to be able to help a man like the Lone Pioneer, and they should all go watch him and give him a big hand.