“Naw. How could I? They’d wrecked a train, too—a freight. We had to lie and watch ’em do it. Then the soldiers from McPherson came down and the Injuns skipped. But Sol Judy and a soldier and I buried old Shep. We saved his scalp, anyway; and his motto is: ‘Killed in action.’”
“You surely have a lot to tell me,” George asserted. “Seems as though you’ve been having most of the fun and hard work both. How’s your father?”
“He’s fine. He’s running 119, and I’m running Jenny, when I’m there.”
“How many miles of track have you laid? A hundred?”
“I left the job at Julesburg, to come on this trip. We’d laid only about ninety miles, account of storms and Injuns. Reckon by now they’ve laid a hundred more. The rails’ll be on top the Black Hills pass, by fall—maybe down to Fort Sanders, before winter, the general says.”
“That’s certainly hustling,” George praised. “I’d like to be there and help, for a spell. All I’ve done is to drive stakes and carry chain. You’ve had the big end.” This sounded queer, when he’d been out here in the desert and had nearly died. “We’ll beat the Central Pacific, won’t we? If only we get across this desert——”
“Aw, we will,” Terry asserted. “Nothing can stop us. And over the mountains and into Salt Lake, and keep going. The Irish’ll beat the Chinks.”
“Guess so! But we’ve the long way. We’ll have to lay two miles of track to their one.”
“Shucks! The U. P. track and grading gangs work like soldiers,” Terry scoffed. “They’re on their toes, and they’ve got system. We’ll finish up, this year, 500 miles from Omaha; then we’ll have only about 500 more to Salt Lake. We’ll get there by 1870, sure. Five hundred miles in two years is nothing, to the U. P. gangs. Did you fellows have any Injun trouble?”
“Not much. Mainly water trouble. The last water we found was poison—made us awful sick; and Mr. Bates has been trying to run by compass straight east, out of here, before we all died on him. We’ve lost a pile of horses and mules; but we’ve got one wagon, still, somewhere behind. If any Injuns had come, they’d have had an easy time.”