Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-12

Our un6 XDeCted liberation was so agreea-
bic that we forgot to thank old Jack for it,
We ran lightly out. and Joe pitched heels
over head over pair of car wheels. Peter
and | helped him rub himself, for he was
bruised and scra tched.
Say says Pete that Odd Jack is nice
old Teller after all, don't you like to hear
him taik?''
As Joe had not yet recovered his breath,
7 replied that I did, and would like to come
down again.
II s'pose they'll have that hole stopped
up tomorrow" said Pete ruefully.
Il got eight watermelons in my patch,
said Joe who was recovering rapidly, two
of EN- are ripe; I'll bet if We bring one
down they'll let US in
Il bet they will. too said Pete enthus-
iasticaIly. Il amt got any watermeions,
he added but there's lots of fine, big, red
tomatoes in our garden. S'pOse they'd care
for them2
Course they would" said I. 'I'n get
some cucIlmbers. an Wen come down to-
morrow evening. If the hole is stopped up
well come TO the door after dark. What
do We say
They agreed at once. for we were all
anxious to hear sooner a story father often
referred to OF Jack Dowd's experiences, es-
PeciaTy as to what happened at Jenkins
IN
That night We sneaked along cautiously
in the shadow OF the wall and sided in
through the big doors.
MIR. Dowd sat ut the desk reading; no one
else was in sight We watched him awhile
tT2mping On each others bare toes and polk
ing one another in the ribs. while We held
our noses 10 keep from siggling at a beetle
that was bu8ZiE2 round the old mans head,
causing him considerable annoyance
H. made T. desperate swfpe at it, upset his
lantern. and said dreadful things. When
he got his lantern relighted We three stood
before him, conspcuously displaying our
gifts
What you kids dom ere agin?' he
ASKED sharply. Didn't 1 tell ye to keep
out o this rund us?
We thought mebbe you'd like some o.
these things with your supper, Mr. Dowd,'
said l. We brought EN- in to show that
We haven't forgotten your kindness in let
ting US off the other night"
"AH right: put EN- down there an go
help the men turn the table; it turns hard
tonight. somehow or other"
We piled our plumber in a corner and
scampered away. delighted. We We're will
ing to work, and the gang had no objec-
tons. SO we hustled like good fellows. We
took water, turned switches, turned the
empty table. ran errandS for Barney and
Dan and became very popular. We were
surprised when Mr. DOwd told Barney to
get 100 out and then knock off for supper.
The time had passed very quickly.
When The job was done we begged Bar
ney to get MIR. DOwd TO tell what It was
that happened at jenkins"
All said Barney, I'm tired Iistenin' to
his lies. He's aliuS got yarn tap to
me sick
Dan laughed. ''Barney's sore about the
double surface business, said he. Never
mind. boys IN start ole Jack fur We. It's
the easiest job there is
When all hands were seated round the
office door, filling in. Dan remarked:
Seems ter me It's mighty quiet on de War
bash tonight Can't some o We OF railroad
erS give a little more experience? We
amt heard from you yet. Barney. Jack toll
us tother night bout road he was on
where they took mighty long CHANCES
Yes. he did Interrupted Barney. He
toll US he thought they was takin' chances
but 1t turned out he was mistaken. The
rOadmaSter knowed is business better'n the
engineers gin i'm credit fer
L did. hey? Mr.. know-it-aH. That's
W ere you re mista ken, and twas jest bit
often as l was agoin to tell ye, on'y
didn't ave time. ike all new roads. this
one ad plenty IF enemies; the oil roads cut
rates agin Us. an the sharks run the stock
down. OF course, the road didn't nav re-
pairs was sighted. an, as far as possible
abandoned. The engines bumped an rat
IleG over shaky tIesiles that swayed under
Us IKE the limb Of tree, an over fills that
al melted an crumble1 away. till the ends
o the ties stuck out in the air. Rocks an
dlrt an trees was eyerlastingly tumblin'
into the cuts. an Were there wasn't no red
nag there was green one. Every little
W lie thered be slump some'eres, but as
they generally allus 'appened to freight
trains, there On'y be "A few ernployes kill
ed. witch didn't matter If the yviddars
sued Tor damages, the company sprung the
co-emplOye act on EN-. an that shet them
up.
Competition prevented Iengthenfn' the
time, SO the boys 'ad to swing 'em for fair
between slnw-ups. an not slow up too much
neither. That was Were | learned 'ow
much shaky piles an bridges can SWAY an,
creak. an groan and yet 'ang on
Dumb luck stayed with US a good VILE
but everybody knoved the crash 'ad got to
come. an everybody 'oped IL wouldn't he
i'm They KEEP takin' men off for not
maxim time. SO We all 'ad a chance at the
passenger trains.
There was a little knoll on Jenkins
farm that ought to ha been cut awav. but
1nstid they dumped a few carloads of snow
an mud alongside on it. an run round it.
II ony made a I'll about fifteen feet high
an 100 long. but twas alIus nuisance
Every time ii rained hard little stream
Womb run round the side o. the knoll
tricSe across between the ties, an gutter
away the I'll. The section man wotIld
throw few Shovelfuls of dirt into it. after
agin'-" -'i'
watermelon for 'ostlers, Wat a bout
II set''
Barney observed that Jacks recital was
The tale of a 'desprit sad case
lis 'ey? retortcd Jack. sayareIy
well. me bloomin 'uckIeberry you'd a
thought So if il 'ad 'appened TO YOU. One
AFTERNOON. drter 4 ln-hOuTS' dOWnDour the
Ill went out altogether firm under the
West-bound track II so 'appened that the
section man was one o them kind that
Eeniy gifts to he superintendent Instead
pikIn' of ONE at O'cIock-as e 'ad A
perfect right toe walked back two mile
III is own time an a food % rain to look
ar It. OF course e found the washout
hasged both ways. an prevented a wreck.
Twas small job to I'LL il up again, an
" en- the weather got settled the watch
man was taken off. the fill was o k
Gosh, interrupted Barney. That was
q terrible disaster"
Disdaining to reply. Jack continued:
There was an engineer on the night ex-
press called OF Woods from a dov-n-east
road Not cause e was old but cause e
was such a nice Teller. L weighed $50
pounds an We used to joke i'm about 'ow
ed git outer the cab in case of a sudden
'urry.
W ere e come from everything was as
solid as Gibraltar; nothin' ever 'appened
an 1t bothered i'm to run on our wobbIy
crack Someow, though e managed to
Keep Is job. all the bad luck 'appened on
is side o the train Is partner would go
trundhn' along on time all over the road
night arter night, but Woods would pick
up couple red flags. or ave a stuck
brake 'Oldin' i'm back. or a 'ot boy ar a
freight train would ave emptied the water