IN THE DARK
I guess you know that was an old out-of-date car, because anyone would
know that the railroad people wouldn't use a good car to stand on a side
track for a makeshift station. Gee whiz, we didn't care about that, we
even liked it, because it was old-fashioned and kind of ramshackle; it
made it seem like a good place for camping. And if it hadn't been for
that old stove in the corner of it, we could never have bunked in it and
cooked our meals. Crinkums, I like old things, but not old worn-out
couplings. Nay, nay!
Another thing, the only lights in that car were three lamps along the
top, but they weren't exactly lights, because the lamps were broken.
Just the brass things were there. There was just one good lamp in a side
bracket in the ticket agent's place, and when we started away from
Brewster's Centre that was full of oil. But we used it all up on
Saturday night in Ridgeboro and we couldn't get any at the store the
next day, on account of it being Sunday. We were going to get some on
Monday morning, but you see we were picked up Sunday night. So now the
only light we had was a little flashlight belonging to Connie Bennett.
I said, "Westy, this is the worst fix we were ever in. I never thought
about anything like this when I said it was a lot of fun being pulled
all over the country in this car. Feel how the bridge shakes in the
wind; it's kind of spooky like, hey? If it only wasn't so dark. That
makes it worse, not being able to see where you are at all. Listen, do
you hear a train?"
"Nope," he said, all the while listening; "I guess it's just because
you're scared."
"Anyway, there's no use wasting time," I told him; "let's wake up the
fellows."
That was some job. We had to roll Pee-wee off the seat onto the floor
and then roll him out into the aisle. I guess they didn't know what we
were talking about first, but when they knew about it, they sat up all
right. We just sat there talking in the pitch dark.
"What good is the flashlight?" Connie asked us. "It won't show far
enough and the battery won't hold out for more than about a half an
hour. I hear a train now."
No one said a word; just listened. "I heard that," Westy said; "it isn't
a train."
"One is likely to crash into us any minute," Wig said; "I'd rather jump
and be done with it--the suspense."
"Do you call that using your brains?" Pee-wee shouted. Gee whiz, when
you come right down to it, I have to admit that kid is a bully little
scout.
"You couldn't walk the ties even if we could," Wig said; "you can't take
a long enough step."
"Well, then, _you_ walk them and I'll stay here," the kid said.
I reached across in the dark and hit him a good rap on the shoulder.
"That shows there's one thing about scouting you don't know, Kiddo," I
told him. "A scout troop is just as strong as its weakest member, just
the same as a chain is as strong as its weakest link. We _will_ use our
brains, right up to the last minute. Don't get scared."
We all listened to a sound we heard far off.
"I'm not scared," Pee-wee said. And even in the dark I could see his
eyes looking straight at me and they looked awful brave and clear, kind
of.
"No use getting excited," Wig said. "Why couldn't we break up some wood
and start a fire a few feet away from the car?"
"Listen!" Connie said; "shh----"
"Maybe it would stop a train, but it would surely burn the bridge down,"
Westy said. "The ties are wooden. There's enough wood to curl the steel
all up into a mess of wreckage. And all that might happen before the
train came along."
"Could we walk the ties?" Wig asked. "Even if they're far apart we might
help Pee-wee----Listen!"
"Don't be all the time scaring me," I said, kind of mad, like. Because I
was getting good and scared, and rattled. "Let's see your light,
Connie."
I held the light to the time table. "There's no station anywhere around
here, I guess," I said; "but that flyer ought to come along pretty
soon----"
"I hear it now," Wig said.
"No, you don't," I told him; "what's the use of getting us all excited?
Sit still. If it comes along, all we can do is to go out and lie flat
on the ties and trust to luck. Any fellow that wants to hang by his
hands, can do it. It would be pretty hard lifting ourselves up again
though. But the flyer isn't coming yet."
"I hear a whistle," Wig said.
"No, you don't hear a whistle," I told him; "that's an owl down there in
the woods. Don't you know the call of an owl?"
"How about freight trains?" Connie asked.
I said, "I don't know anything about freight trains; they're not on the
time table. Of course, we're up against it, but what's the use of going
all to pieces? If any fellow wants to try walking the ties, he can do
it. It would be hard enough in the daytime. On a dark night like this,
he'd just go crashing down into all those rocks and water, that's all.
Maybe the chances are against us, but I say, let's stick together."
"That's what I say," Pee-wee shouted; "we've always stuck together. I
say _stick together_."
"Bully for you, Kid," I said.
"We had a lot of fun anyway," he said; "and I always voted for you for
patrol leader. I'm not scared."
I got up, because I just couldn't sit there any more. Every time the
wind blew and the car rattled, it gave me a start. I put my arm over
Pee-wee's shoulder and I said, "I've jollied you a lot, Walt."
"I don't mind that," he said; "and besides, a scout is brave."
"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....