The great strike, like a receding1 sea, revealed heaps of queer wreckage2. Men who had once been respected by their fellows, but who had drifted down the river of vice3 now came to claim the attention of the strikers or the company. Most conspicuous4 among them was drunken Bill Greene. Three months ago he would have been kicked out of a company section house or passed by a Brotherhood5 man without a nod. Then he was "Old Bill;" now they called him Billy.
In his palmy days he had wooed, and won the heart of Maggie Crogan, a pretty waitress in the railway eating-house at Zero Junction6. Maggie was barely eighteen then, a strawberry blonde with a sunny smile and a perpetual blush. In less than a year he had broken her heart, wrecked7 her life and sent her adrift in the night. His only excuse was that he was madly in love with Nora Kelly, but Nora, having heard the story of Maggie's miserable8 life, turned her back on Greene and married George Cowels, then a young apprentice9 in the shops. Inasmuch as it was about the only commendable10 thing he ever did, it should be put to Greene's credit that he did really love Nora Kelly; but, being a coward with an inherited thirst, he took to drink the day she turned him down; and now, after a few wasted years he and Maggie--old red-headed Mag they called her--had drifted together, pooled their sorrows and often tried to drown them in the same can of beer. She worked, when she worked at all, at cleaning coaches. He borrowed her salary and bought drink with it. Once he proposed marriage, and ended by beating her because she laughed at him.
Before the strike he had been forced to keep sober four days out of a week. Now he was comfortably tanked at all times. He had been a machinist and round-house foreman, and the company saw in him a fair "emergency" engineer, and was constantly watching for an opportunity to try him on one of the fast express trains.
At last he was called to take out a passenger run. The round-house foreman had gone personally to fetch "Billy" from the bar-room near the Grand Pacific where he was waiting for a Brotherhood man to drop in and buy him a drink. When told that he was wanted to take out the Pacific express, the bum11 straightened up, hitched12 his suspenderless trousers and asked: "Who're you?"
"I'm the foreman; come and have a bite o' breakfast and let's be off."
"Well--folks gen'ly drink afore they eat--come on, le's have a horn. Here, bar-keep, give us a couple o' slugs."
"Now don't git gay--I'm goin' down to take me run out--here's me foreman."
"But you must not drink," broke in the official, "when you are going out on an express train."
"What?"
"You must not drink."
"Then I don't work. Th' Brotherhood 'll pay me four dollars a day to sit right here and keep three gages an' a flutter in the stack--go on with yer damn ol' railroad--"
"Come now, Billy," pleaded the foreman, "this is an opportunity--"
"Billy! Month ago Stonaker's nigger threw me down the steps."
"Give 'm a drink," said the foreman, and the bar-keeper set out two glasses and a large red bottle. While the foreman's back was turned and the bar-man waited upon another customer, Billy did the honors. He filled both glasses and had emptied one when the foreman, having unearthed15 a quarter, turned and remarked to the liquor man that he did not drink. The man was in the act of removing the glass when Billy grabbed it, and with a quick crook16 of his elbow pitched the whiskey down his neck.
"Now will you go and eat?"
"Naw--go t' work," said Greene, hitching17 up his trousers.
Off they went together, but at every saloon (and there are dozens of them in Chicago), the new engineer of the Pacific express insisted upon drinking. By hard coaxing18 the foreman had succeeded in passing three or four of them when they were met by a couple of strikers.
"Hello Billy," said one of the men. "Where you goin'?"
"Goin' t' take me run out," said Greene, with another hitch13.
"Now you fellows break away," said the foreman, for the strikers had turned and were walking with the others.
"Reckon you don't own the sidewalk, do you?" said one of the men, and the foreman was silent.
"Didn't think you'd shake us like this Billy," began the striker. "We intended to take you into the order to-day an' end up with a good big blow-out to-night. It's all right Billy. You go out on your run and when you get in come round to the Pacific an' we'll square you with the boys."
"An' we'll have a bowl together, eh?" said Billy, for the liquor was beginning to make him happy.
The foreman was white with rage, but he was powerless.
"You bet we will, Billy," said the man who had done the talking.
"Hur--what's this, boss?"
"Come along now," urged the foreman, tugging19 at Billy's arm.
"Never run by a tank," said Billy, setting the air and coming to a dead stall at the open door of a beer saloon. The silent striker had entered the saloon, the other paused in the door, looked back, nodded and asked: "Have something, Billy, b'fore you go?"
"Will I?" cried Billy, as he twisted from the foreman's grasp.
"Police--here--officer!" cried the foreman, and when the copper20 came he found Billy just swallowing his second straight.
"Here," said the foreman, excitedly, "I want you to arrest these men."
"Better get a warrant first," said one of the strikers coolly. "We simply came in here to have a drink," he explained to the officer.
"Phat's th' row hier, Tony?" asked the policeman.
"Th' ain't no row as I can see," said the bar-keeper, "these gents is 'aving a quiet drink w'en 'ees nibs21 there pips in an' calls fer a cop."
"This is one of our engineers," explained the foreman, "and I was on the way to the station with him when these strikers took him away."
"Begad, he's a bute," said the officer, folding his arms over his ample stomach and gazing with mirthful curiosity at the bum.
"Now, ye's fellies must not interfere22 with men as wants to make an honest living--let th' ingineer go t' 'is ingine," and he gave Billy a shove that sent him into the arms of the waiting foreman.
"What's it to you," shouted the angry engine-driver, "who wants to work--who said I wanted t' make a' honest livin'?--Go t' 'ell," and he struck the foreman in the face.
"Here! Here!!" cried the officer, seizing the fighter, "you'll go to work or go to jail," and Billy went away between the copper and the foreman with his wheels sliding.
After much coaxing and cursing by the foreman, who was often asked to come out in the alley23 and settle it, Billy was loaded into an engine cab. While the foreman was selecting a fireman from the hard-looking herd24 of applicants25 sent down from the office of the master-mechanic, the gentle warmth of the boiler-head put Billy to sleep. It was a sound, and apparently26 dreamless sleep, from which he did not wake the while they rolled him from the engine, loaded him into a hurry-up wagon27 and carried him away to the cooler.
When he had sobered up Greene went to the round-house and offered his services to the company, but the foreman would not talk to him. Finally Greene became abusive, and the foreman kicked him out of the round-house and across the turntable. From that day Greene was a striker, and a very troublesome one.
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receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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2
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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bum
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| n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨 | |
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12
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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unearthed
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| 出土的（考古） | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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hitching
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| 搭乘； （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的现在分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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nibs
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| 上司，大人物； 钢笔尖，鹅毛管笔笔尖( nib的名词复数 )； 可可豆的碎粒； 小瑕疵 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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applicants
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| 申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 ) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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