SAM. Yes, purty near.
JOE. Did you help the feller into your car?
SAM. Yes, we were just pulling out of the depot when he came a-runnin' up to my side door with an order from the superintendent for me to carry him as fur as Vinita. He ran alongside and put his hand up, so of course I pulled him into the car.
EM'LY. Wasn't you scared, Sam?
SAM. Why, no—I thought he belonged to the company, and he went to work with me, sorting and fixing my express stuff.
JOE. Well, I'm durned!
SAM. [Intensely serious.] I joked with him—just like I'm joking with you—he was one of the nicest fellows I ever saw.
JOE. [Wide-eyed with gossip.] Don't that beat everything?
SAM. When we were eighteen or twenty miles out, an' I was stoopin' this way over a box—I felt him on my back, and grabbing at my arms—why, why—even then I thought he was jokin', and I looked around laughin', and here was his gun pokin' right into my face.
MRS. VERNON. [Haunted.] Just think of it!