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One Friday afternoon, a neighbor of the little brown house flounced into the office. "It's my dooty to come to you, lady," said Mrs. Flannagan, "and I does my dooty when it's hard on other folks. You wouldn't give me a bit of groceries last week, but they tell me you rain down grocery orders on Mrs. Callahan, and she spendin' money like she was President Bill Taft or Johnny Rockefeller."
"And what do you think," went on the other, "He heard old Henry Hickman talking he says you fellows held him up on that water bill." "Go on!" said Callahan. "Did he say that?" "He did," said Finnegan, without giving Samuel a chance to reply. "Well," said the other, "he's a damned liar, and he knows it. It was a dead straight proposition, and we hadn't a thing to do with it.
The California fruit trains, not due for twenty-four hours, coming in a day ahead of time with the Mountain Division tied up by the worst washout it had ever seen. In a heat he walked out of the operators' office to find Agnew; the two men met near the water tank. "Hello, Agnew. This puts us against it, doesn't it? How soon can you give us a track?" asked Callahan, feverishly.
The operator was already up. "I hope I shan't forget it," he said, putting out his hand. "Will you remember the spikes?" "I will," responded Callahan grimly. "And I guess " "Say it," said the operator gamely, as the yardmaster hesitated. "I guess you will."
"Shovel needn't hear," he said in explanation. And then: "Are you willing to stand with us, Patsy? You've had time enough to think it over." Callahan stood with his arms folded and his cap drawn down over his eyes. "'Tis not f'r meself I'm thinkin', Misther M'Tosh, as ye well know. But I'm a widdy man; an' there's the bit colleen in the convint."
Birdie Callahan always said that Minnie was working only to wear out her old clothes. After the introduction Miss Wenzel followed Jo Haley into the lobby. She took no pains to lower her voice. "Well I must say, Mr. Haley, you've got a fine nerve! If my gentleman friend was to hear of my working with an ex-con I wouldn't be surprised if he'd break off the engagement.
"Ye'll ride this night where Patsy Callahan dhrives, an' be dommed to ye." Meanwhile the train-master had reached the iron grille at the other end of the long track platform. At a small wicket used by the station employees and trainmen, Kent was waiting for him. "Is it all right, M'Tosh? Will he do it?" he asked anxiously. "Yes, Patsy's game for it; I knew he would be.
Stedman had gone out to the grocer's, there came a knock on the door, and he opened it, and to his amazement found himself confronted by Billy Finnegan. "Hello, young fellow!" said Finnegan. "Hello!" said Samuel. "What's this I hear about your making a speech?" asked Finnegan. "I'm going to," was the reply. "But how did you know?" "I got it from Callahan. Slattery told him." "Slattery!
"I'm not doing the talking now," said Callahan at length with a sidewise glance, "but if you get a hundred cars of rock into that hole by twelve o'clock to-night not to speak of laying steel you can have my job, old man." "Then look up another right away, for I'll have the rock in the river long before that. Now don't rubber, but get after the men and the drills " "The drills?"
When his special for a run to the Rat Cañon was ready all the extra yardmen and both roadmasters were in the caboose; behind them fumed a second section with orders to pick up along the way every section man as they followed. It was hard on eight o'clock when Callahan stepped aboard.
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