“You see,” he said, “there’s a lot more rain to come in.” The Old Master shivered violently; he did not seem to notice what was being said. Then he pulled himself together and seemed to come out of the fog; he spoke clearly and stiffly.

“I thought that I should like to see the map again. I shall be going along now. I know—I know.”

The Chief spoke hurriedly to the J. M. in a tense low voice: “Call the Navy Recruiting Office downstairs. Somewhere—get a doctor!”

4

Bright yellow in the winter sunshine, agleam with resplendent metal, the streamliner was making eighty miles an hour along the Platte River. Thin snow covered the land; in the channel the swift water ran black between the ice-fringes.

In the lounge-car two young men had joined with two older ones and were playing cards, listlessly. “One heart . . . two diamonds.” Though it meant rubber, no one cared enough to put up a fight. When the points were added up, there was no suggestion of continuing.

“Are we on time?” asked one of the young men, just to be saying something.

“Were the last time I checked,” said the second young man. “God, what a bore this trip is, even on the streamliner.”

“Looks cold out there,” said the first, gazing idly out the window at the bleak landscape.

“Plenty cold when we left Chicago—haven’t stuck my nose out since, to tell the truth.”

“Well, neither have I. Be good to get to California, and have a little decent weather.”

“I hear they’re having rain out there too.”

“If there’s one thing that bores me more than riding on a train,” put in one of the older men, “it’s discussing the weather. Riding on a train and discussing the weather is too much.”

•

Between Norden and Emigrant Gap snow was falling at the rate of six inches an hour. A fast freight had to be side-tracked for twenty minutes until a rotary could punch through and clear the track, and then the freight had to follow a flanger, keeping one block behind.

The men piled out of the rotary, and fought their way to the station-house. They were shaky in the legs from the unceasing vibration; they walked uncertainly. Their clothes were soaked with perspiration from the heat and steam, and they shivered in the cold, snow-driving wind. They grabbed themselves sandwiches and coffee; and standing with coats opened they tried to dry their clothing around the roaring, red-bellied coal stove.

Then orders came through. They plugged back to the rotary through the snow, and started out again. In this kind of storm the snow-equipment had to be kept moving. A fast train with mail was due through in a little while, and stopping a train like that was more serious than holding up a freight.