" 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