"Dod durn it," blubbered Pete, "I ain't cryin' bekase Pm skeered. I'm cryin' bekase I'm afeared you'll lose me. I know durned well you'll lose me yit, with all this foolin' around."
"No, we won't," Si assured him. "You just keep with us and you'll be all right."
"Here, you blim-blammed, moon-eyed suckers, git offen that 'ere crossin'," yelled at them a fireman whose engine came tearing down toward the middle of the squad2. "Hain't you got no more sense than to stand on a crossin'?"
He hurled3 a chunk4 of coal at the squad, which hastily followed Si to the other side of the track.
"Hello, there; where are you goin', you chuckle-headed clodhoppers?" yelled the men on another train rushing down from a different direction. "This ain't no hayfield. Go back home and drive cows, and git out o' the way o' men who're at work."
There was more scurrying5, and when at last Si reached a clear space, he had only a portion of his squad with him, while Shorty was vowing6 he would not go a step farther until he had licked a railroad man. But the engines continued to whirl back and forth7 in apparently8 purposeless confusion, and the moment that he fixed9 upon any particular victim of his wrath10, he was sure to be compelled to jump out of the way of a locomotive clanging up from an unexpected direction and interposing a train of freight cars between him and the man he was after.
Si was too deeply exercised about getting his squad together to pay attention to Shorty or the jeering11, taunting12 railroaders. He became very fearful that some of them had been caught and badly hurt, probably killed, by the remorseless locomotives.
"This's wuss'n a battle," he remarked to the boys around him. "I'd ruther take you out on the skirmish-line than through them trains agin."
However, he had come to get some comprehension of the lay of the ground and the movements of the trains by this time, and by careful watching succeeded in gathering13 in his boys, one after another, until he had them all but little Pete Skidmore. The opinion grew among them that Pete had unwisely tried to keep up with the bigger boys, who had jumped across the track in front of a locomotive, and had been caught and crushed beneath the wheels. He had been seen up to a certain time, and then those who were last with him had been so busy getting out of the way that they had forgotten to look for him. Si calmed Shorty down enough to get him to forget the trainmen for awhile and take charge of the squad while he went to look for Pete. He had become so bewildered that he could not tell the direction whence they had come, or where the tragedy was likely to have happened. The farther he went in attempting to penetrate14 the maze15 of moving trains, the more hopeless the quest seemed. Finally he went over to the engineer of a locomotive that was standing16 still and inquired if he had heard of any accident to a boy soldier during the day.
"Seems to me that I did hear some o' the boys talkin' about No. 47 or 63 havin' run over a boy, or something," answered the engineer carelessly, without removing his pipe from his mouth. "I didn't pay no attention to it. Them things happen every day. Sometimes it's my engine, sometimes it's some other man's. But I hain't run over nobody for nigh a month now."
"Confound it," said Si savagely18; "you talk about runnin' over men as if it was part o' your business."
"No," said the engineer languidly, as he reached up for his bell-rope. "'Tain't, so to speak, part o' our regler business. But the yard's awfully19 crowded, old Sherman's makin' it do five times the work it was calculated for, trains has got to be run on the dot, and men must keep off the track if they don't want to git hurt. Stand clear, there, yourself, for I'm goin' to start."
Si returned dejectedly to the place where he had left his squad. The expression of his face told the news before he had spoken a word. It was now getting dark, and he and Shorty decided20 that it was the best thing to go into bivouac where they were and wait till morning before attempting to penetrate the maze beyond in search of their regiment21. They gathered up some wood, built fires, made coffee and ate the remainder of their rations22. They were all horribly depressed23 by little Pete Skidmore's fate, and Si and Shorty, accustomed as they were to violent deaths, could not free themselves from responsibility however much they tried to reason it out as an unavoidable accident. They could not talk to one another, but each wrapped himself up in his blanket and sat moodily24, a little distance from the fires, chewing the cud of bitter fancies. Neither could bear the thought of reporting to their regiment that they had been unable to take care of the smallest boy in their squad. Si's mind went back to Peter Skidmore's home, and his mother, whose heart would break over the news.
The clanging and whistling of the trains kept up unabated, and Si thought they made the most hateful din17 that ever assailed25 his ears.
Presently one of the trains stopped opposite them and a voice called from the locomotive:
"Do you men know of a squad of Injianny recruits commanded by Serg't Klegg?"
"Yes, here they are," said Si, springing up. "I'm Serg't Klegg."
Little Pete Found 13
"That's him," piped out Pete Skidmore's voice from the engine, with a very noticeable blubber of joy. "He's the same durned old-fool that I kept tellin' all the time he'd lose me if he wasn't careful, and he went and done it all the same."
"Well, here's your boy," continued the first voice. "Be mighty26 glad you've got him back and see that you take care o' him after this. My fireman run down on the cow-ketcher and snatched him up just in the nick o' time. A second more and he'd bin27 mince-meat. Men what can't take better care o' boys oughtn't to be allowed to have charge of 'em. But the Government gits all sorts o' damn fools for $13 a month."
Si was so delighted at getting Pete back unhurt that he did not have the heart to reply to the engineer's gibes28.
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1
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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2
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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3
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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4
chunk
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| n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量） | |
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5
scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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6
vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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7
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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8
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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9
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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10
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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11
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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12
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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13
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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14
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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15
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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16
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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17
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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18
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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19
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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20
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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21
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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22
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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23
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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24
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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25
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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26
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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27
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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28
gibes
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| vi.嘲笑，嘲弄（gibe的第三人称单数形式） | |
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