We first found two pieces of board. There were plenty of them scattered around, on account of the wreck. We put one piece, which was long enough to reach from his armpit to below his foot, on the outside of the leg. The other we put on the inside. It didn't have to be so long, but reached well below the knee. Then, making sure the broken bones were in place, we tied the splints on with strips from Skinny's shirt, first putting a cushion of leaves between the boards and the leg. After that we tore up Bill's shirt and tied the broken leg to the good one with three or four strips of that.
"Do you suppose that we can get him up on the river bank?" asked Skinny, when we had him all fixed.
"We must," a quiet voice answered.
Turning, we saw Mr. Norton, who had come up so still that we had not heard him.
"Oh, Mr. Norton!" cried Skinny. "We are so glad you have come. It is an awful wreck and nobody to do anything at first but us, and we didn't know what to do. I think the engineer and fireman were killed. The brakeman is over there, trying to get them out."
"You seem to have done remarkably well for boys who didn't know what to do. I want two poles from the woods, Gabriel. Quick! William, you go with him. John will help me here."
Skinny grabbed his hatchet, and before we had time to miss them the boys were back again with two long poles. While they were away Mr. Norton and I pulled two car seats out of the wreck and were ready to make a stretcher. By laying the seats end to end on the poles and tying them fast with Skinny's rope, we had a good one and not bad to ride on, because of the springs.
Then Mr. Norton and the brakeman, with us boys helping all we could, lifted the conductor very carefully and laid him on the stretcher. To lift it by the ends of the poles and carry it up to the river bank was the easiest part of all.
By that time, Hank and Benny had come back with two or three men from Hoosac Tunnel station, and they went to work with jacks to get the engineer and fireman out.
"A special train is coming from Readsboro," Hank told us. "It's bringing some doctors and the wrecker."