Railroads -- United States -- Design and construction -- Fiction; Western stories
“‘Well,’ said I, speaking slow and sort of thinking it over, ‘look
here, Mister MacBayne, why don’t you get a horse and buggy and look
around the city? They say it’s a pretty place. Or you could pick up a
boat, you and Charlie, and go sailing on Lake Erie. Or you might run
over and see the falls--Ever been there?’
“The old man was looking on both sides of me with those two eyes of
his. ‘What are you up to, Hen?’ he said.
“‘Nothing,’ I answered, ‘not a thing. But say, Mister MacBayne, I
forgot to bring any money. Let me have a little, will you,--about a
hundred and fifty?’
“When I said that, the old man gulped, and looked almost scared. I saw
then, just what I’d suspected, that he wouldn’t be the least use to
me. I’d ‘a’ done better to have left him behind. ‘Why, yes, Hen,’ said
he, ‘I can let you have that!’ He went out, and pretty soon he came
back with the money in a big roll of small bills.
“‘Well, good morning, gentlemen,’ said I. ‘I’ll see you at five
o’clock this afternoon.’
“I went right out to the Erie yards, where they were unloading
twenty-two of our coal cars. Jim Harvey was standing near by, and he
gave me a queer look, and asked me what I was doing in Buffalo.
“‘Doing?’ said I, ‘I’m looking after my cars. What did you suppose?
And see here, Jim, while you were about it, don’t you think you might
have put ’em together. Here you’ve got twenty-two of ’em, and there’s
forty over at the Lake Shore, and a lot more in Chaplin’s yards? There
ain’t but one of me--however do you suppose I’m going to watch ’em
all, even see that the boys keep oil in the boxes?’ ‘I don’t know
anything about that,’ said he.
“‘Well now, look here, Jim,’ said I, ‘how many more of these cars have
you got to unload?’ ‘Twelve,’ said he. ‘How soon can you get it
done--that’s my question?’ ‘Oh, I’ll finish it up to-morrow morning.’
‘Well, now, Jim,’ said I, ‘I want you to put on a couple of extra
wagons and get these cars emptied by five o’clock this afternoon. Then
I want you to get all our cars together over there in Chaplin’s yards,
where I can keep an eye on ’em!’ ‘Oh, see here,’ said he, ‘I can’t do
that, Hen. The sheriff--’
“‘Damn the sheriff,’ said I. ‘I ain’t going to hurt the sheriff. What
I want is to get my cars together where I can know what’s being done
to ’em.’
“Well, he didn’t want to do it, but some of the long green passed and
then he thought maybe he could fix me up. There was a lot of other
things I had to do that day--and a lot of other men to see. The
despatcher for the Buffalo and Southwestern was one of ’em. Then at
five o’clock, or a little before, I floated into the Swift House
office and there were MacBayne and Charlie Greenman sitting around
waiting for me. The old man had his watch in his hand. Charlie was
walking up and down, very nervous. I came up sort of offhand and
said:--
“‘Charlie, I want two of your biggest and strongest engines, and I
want ’em up in Chaplin’s yard as soon as you can get ’em there.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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