“I’d like a change.”
“Why don’t we go into town and have ourselves fitted for new uniforms? Why do the job halfway?”
Tim smiled. “At least we can wash our feet and change to dry socks.”
They took out clean socks and left their haversacks at the foot of a tree. At the edge of the stream they sat on a huge flat rock and washed their feet, then sat still for a while until their feet were dry.
They put on the clean socks, tied the wet ones to the flaps of their haversacks and started walking again.
They soon found a rutted wagon road that looked as if it were seldom used. They were fit for travel again, but the open land and the lack of cover along the sides of the road made Tim wonder if they should go on in the light of day.
Here they walked side by side. For the first time the ground grew stiff with frost.
A railroad whistle broke the silence.
In three or four minutes they heard the engine, faintly at first. The whistle sounded again, and they saw a freight train on high ground half a mile west, chugging and rocking toward the north, leaving a trail of smoke behind.
“That’s the way to travel,” Red said.