The conductor came from the Train Despatcher’s office with a thin sheet of yellow paper, on which were written his orders, in his hand.
“No tramps on board to-night, are there, Joe?” he said to his head brakeman.
“No, sir, not a sign of one. I’ve looked carefully everywhere. It’s too wet for ’em to travel, I reckon.”
“All right. Let her go.”
Then the conductor swung his glistening lantern, the engineer pulled the throttle, and Freight No. 15 moved slowly out into the darkness. Its first stop was at Arden, where it was to side-track and await the passing of the New York Limited. Here too were to be left six sacks of meal.
As Brakeman Joe unlocked and pushed open the door of car No. 201, and the light of his lantern flashed into its dark interior, it fell upon something that caused him to start and exclaim:
“Great Scott! the tramps are travelling after all, and here they are. A dog too! Well, if that isn’t cold cheek!”
CHAPTER XXI.
CARRIED OFF IN A FREIGHT CAR.
Brakeman Joe did not love tramps. His regular work was hard enough, goodness knows; and when, in addition to it, he had to make a thorough examination of the whole train at every stopping-place, peering, by the light of his lantern, between and underneath the cars for tramps, who might be stealing a ride, he felt that he had good cause to dislike them. Sometimes he had hard tussles before dislodging them from their perches and roosts, and many an ugly blow had he received while performing this duty. Joe had, therefore, learned to deal very promptly, not to say roughly, with this portion of the travelling public whenever he found them on or in the cars under his charge.
On this particular night he had made sure, before starting, that there was not a single tramp on the train, and had in consequence been anticipating a comparatively easy trip. And now he had, as he supposed, discovered a whole nest of them snugly stowed away in car No. 201. A dog too! It was aggravating, and, under the circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that he hustled them out of there without much regard to their feelings.