Grant took an opportunity, after supper, to go to Luke Weldon’s, and draw twenty-five dollars. On his way back he called at the tailor’s, and paid Mr. Shick for his suit in advance. The remaining five dollars, in silver, he kept in his pocket.
“It is so long since I carried any money,” he said to himself, “that I want to know how it seems.”
Meanwhile Jotham Perry, a neighbor, called at the farm-house on an errand.
“That’s a pretty bad thing, the breaking down of the railroad bridge, isn’t it?”
“I haven’t heard of it,” said Seth Tarbox, pricking up his ears.
“Sho! I thought everybody knew it.”
“How did it happen?”
“I don’t know, except it gave way from old age. It’s long been shaky.”
“When was it found out?”
“This afternoon, just before the accommodation train came along. I tell you it was a narraw[narraw] escape for the train. They stopped just a few rods before they got to the bridge.”