"Stranger," said he, gently, "could you oblige me with a chew of tobacco?"
Bat glared at him an instant; but Foley's nerve won.
Flushing a bit, Bat stuck his hand into his pocket; took it out; felt hurriedly in the other pocket, and, with some confusion, acknowledged he was short. Felix Kennedy intervened with a slab, and the three men fell at once to talking about the accident.
A long time afterwards some of the striking engineers were taken back, but none of those who had been guilty of actual violence. This barred Andy Cameron, who, though not worse than many others, had been less prudent; and while we all felt sorry for him after the other boys had gone to work, Lancaster repeatedly and positively refused to reinstate him.
Several times, though, I saw Foley and Cameron in confab, and one day up came Foley to the superintendent's office, leading little Andy, in his overalls, by the hand. They went into Lancaster's office together, and the door was shut a long time.
When they came out little Andy had a piece of paper in his hand.
"Hang on to it, son," cautioned Foley; "but you can show it to Mr. Reed if you want to."
The youngster handed me the paper. It was an order directing Andrew Cameron to report to the master-mechanic for service in the morning.
I happened over at the round-house one day nearly a year later, when Foley was showing Cameron a new engine, just in from the East. The two men were become great cronies; that day they fell to talking over the strike.