An hour later, a big broad shouldered Irishman who proved to be
the pumper, came ambling along on a railroad velocipede. He looked at me
for a minute, and after I had made myself known he grinned and said,
"Well, I hopes as how ye will loike the place. Burke, the man who was
here afore ye, got scared off by thramps, and I reckon he's not stopped
runnin' yit." Fine introduction wasn't it?
I found there was no day operator and the only house around was the
section house, two miles up the track. The operator and pumper boarded
there with the section boss; but the railroad company was magnanimous
enough to furnish a velocipede for their use in going to and from the
station. How I felt the first night, stuck away out there in that
box-car, two miles from the nearest house and twelve miles from the
nearest town, I must leave to the imagination. My heart sank and I had
many misgivings, in fact, I was scared to death, but I set my teeth hard
and determined to do my best, with the hope that I might be promoted to
a better office. I did win that promotion but I wouldn't go through my
experiences again for the whole road.
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