"You're a better scout than any of us, I guess," I told him.
Then I went out onto the platform, because I just couldn't keep still. I remembered what Connie had said about all the men that lose their lives working on railroads. Anyway, Pee-wee was right, we had had a lot of fun. I guess we never thought about the other side of it. I looked away down into the dark and I could just hear the water splashing on the rocks. I had to grab hold of the railing when the wind blew. I looked away off along the tracks, but I couldn't even see where the bridge ended; only I could see a kind of a big patch of dark that was blacker than the regular dark, and I thought it was a mountain. I guessed maybe a headlight would show suddenly around that. Connie came out, but didn't say anything, and then went back through to the other platform. I could hear frogs croaking, away down.
"Going to watch?" I called after him.
He said, "We're going to hang from the ties when we hear it."
"All right," I told him; "it's awful dark. I can't see a thing."
I heard one of the fellows inside say that maybe the wind would start the car, but I knew that was crazy talk, because a bridge is always level. I made up my mind that I'd hang from one of the ties and clasp my hands around it. I knew that it would be hard pulling myself up and scrambling onto the bridge again; all of us wouldn't manage it, that was sure. It seemed kind of funny that probably we wouldn't have a full patrol any more. I wasn't exactly scared but, kind of, I didn't like to hear those frogs croaking way down there. It sounded so spooky.
I heard Westy say, "So long, Roy, if I don't see you again."
I called in for him to keep the kid near him. He was always my special chum, Westy was....