""There! stop right there, young man. Now, will you go on the 17 _as ordered_?"
""Yes, if Jim Wainright runs her."
""No _ifs_ about it; will you go?"
""No, sir, I won"t!"
""You are discharged, then."
""That fires me, too," said I.
""Not at all, not at all; this is a fireman row, Jim."
"I don"t know what struck me then, but I said:
""No one but this boy shall put a scoop of coal in the 12 or any other engine for me; I"ll take the poorest run you have, but the Kid goes with me."
"Talk was useless, and in the end the Kid and I quit and got our time.
"That evening the Kid came to my room and begged me to take my job back and he would go home; but I wouldn"t do it, and asked him if he was sick of me.
""No, Jim," said he. "I live in fear that something will happen to separate us, but I don"t want to be a drag on you--I think more of you than anybody."
"They were buying engines by the hundred on the Rio Grande and Santa Fe and the A. & P. in those days, and the Kid and I struck out for the West, and inside of thirty days we were at work again.
"We had been there three months, I guess, when I got orders to take a new engine out to the front and leave her, bringing back an old one. The last station on the road was in a box-car, thrown out beside the track on a couple of rails. There was one large, rough-board house, where they served rough-and-ready grub and let rooms. The latter were stalls, the part.i.tions being only about seven feet high. It was cold and bleak, but right glad we were to get there and get a warm supper. Everything was rough, but the Kid seemed to enjoy the novelty. After supper I asked the landlord if he could fix us for the night.
""I can jest fix ye, and no more," said he; "I have just one room left.
Ye"s"ll have to double up; but this is the kind o" weather for that; it"ll be warmer."
"The Kid objected, but the landlord bluffed him--didn"t have any other room--and he added: "If I was your pardner there, I"d kick ye down to the foot, such a cold strip of bacon as ye must be."
"About nine o"clock the Kid slipped out, and not coming in for an hour, I went to look for him. As I went toward the engine, I met the watchman:
""Phy don"t that fireman o" yourn sleep in the house or on the caboose floor such a night as this? He"ll freeze up there in that cab wid no blankets at all; but when I tould him that, he politely informed meself that he"d knowed men to git rich mindin" their own biz. He"s a sa.s.sy slip of a Yankee."
"I climbed up on the big consolidation, and, lighting my torch, looked over the boiler-head at the Kid. He was lying on a board on the seat, with his overcoat for a covering and an arm-rest for a pillow.
""What"s the matter with you, Kid?" I asked. "What are you doing freezing here when we can both be comfortable and warm in the house? Are you ashamed or afraid to sleep with me? I don"t like this for a cent."
""Hope you won"t be mad with me, Jim, but I won"t sleep with any one; there now!"
""You"re either a fool or crazy," said I. "Why, you will half freeze here. I want some explanation of such a trick as this."
"The Kid sat up, looked at me soberly for a few seconds, reached up and unhooked his door, and said:
""Come over and sit down, Jim, and I"ll tell you something."
"I blew out the torch and went over, half mad. As I hooked the door to keep out the sharp wind I thought I heard a sob, and I took the Kid"s head in my hands and turned his face to the moonlight. There were big tears in the corner of each tightly closed eye.
""Don"t feel bad, Kid," said I. "I"m sure there"s some reason keeps you at such tricks as this; but tell me all your trouble--it"s imaginary, I know."
"There was a tremor in the Kid"s voice as he took my hand and said, "We are friends, Jim; ain"t we?"
""Why, of course," said I.
""I have depended on your friendship and kindness and manhood, Jim. It has never failed me yet, and it won"t now, I know. I have a secret, Jim, and it gnaws to be out one day, and hides itself the next. Many and many a time I have been on the point of confessing to you, but something held me back. I was afraid you would not let me stay with you, if you knew--"
""Why, you ain"t killed any one, Kid?" I asked, for I thought he was exaggerating his trouble.
""No--yes, I did, too--I killed my sister."
"I recoiled, hurt, shocked. "You--"
""Yes, Jim, there is no such person to be found as my sister, Georgiana--_for I am she_!""
""You! Why, Kid, you"re crazy!"
""No, I"m not. Listen, Jim, and I will explain."
""My father was always sorry I was not a boy. Taught me boyish tricks, and made me learn drawing. I longed for the life on a locomotive--I loved it, read about it, thought of it, and prayed to be transformed into _something_ that could go out on the road. My heart went out to you early in our acquaintance, and one day the thought to get started as a fireman with you shot into my brain and was acted upon at once. After the first move there was no going back, and I have acted my part well; I have even been a good fireman. I am strong, healthy, and happy when on the road with you. I love the life, hard as it is, and can"t think of giving it up, and--and you, Jim."
"And then she broke down, and cried as only a woman can.
"I took both her hands in mine and kissed her--think of kissing your fireman on the engine--and told her that we could be happy yet. Then I told her how I had tried to get a letter to the lost sister, and how they never came back, and were never answered--that I loved the sister and loved her. She reminded me that she herself got all the letters I had sent, and was pretty sure of her ground when she threw herself on my protection.
"It was a strange courting, John, there on that engine at the front, the boundless plains on one side, the mountains on the other, the winds of the desert whirling sand and snow against our little house, and the moon looking coldly down at the spectacle of an engineer making love to his fireman.
"That night the Kid slept in the bed in the house, and I stayed on the engine.
"When we got back to headquarters the Kid laid off to go home, and I made a trip or two with another fireman, and then I had to go to Illinois to fix up some family business--Kid and I arranged that.
"We met in St. Louis, the Kid hired a ball dress, and we were married as quiet as possible. I had promised the Kid that, for the present at least, she could stay on the road with me, and you know that the year you were there I done most of the heavy firing while the Kid did the running. We remained in the service for something like two years--a strange couple, but happy in each other"s company and our work.
"I often talked to my wife about leaving the road and starting in new, where we were not known, as man and wife, she to remain at home; but she wouldn"t hear of it, asking if I wanted an Irishman for a side-partner.
This came to be a joke with us--"When I get my Irishman I will do so-and-so."
"One day, as our "hog" was drifting down the long hill, the Kid said to me, "Jim, you can get your Irishman; I"m going to quit this trip."
""Kind o" sudden, hey, Kid?"
""No, been hating to give up, but--" and then the Kid came over and whispered something to me.
"John, we both quit and went South. I got a job in Texas, and the Kid was lost sight of, and Mrs. J. E. Wainright appeared on the scene in tea-gown, train, and flounces. We furnished a neat little den, and I was happy. I missed my kid fireman, and did indeed have an Irishman. Kid had a struggle to wear petticoats again, and did not take kindly to dish-washing, but we were happy just the same.
"Our little fellow arrived one spring day, and then our skies were all sunshiny for three long, happy years, until one day Kid and I followed a little white hea.r.s.e out beyond the cypress grove and saw the earth covered over our darling, over our hopes, over our sunshine, and over our hearts.
"After that the house was like a tomb, so still, so solemn, and at every turn were reminders of the little one who had faded away like the morning mist, gone from everything but our memories--there his sweet little image was graven by the hand of love and seared by the branding-iron of sorrow.