The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nerve of Foley, by Frank H. Spearman

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Title: The Nerve of Foley
And Other Railroad Stories

Author: Frank H. Spearman

Release Date: October 4, 2010 [EBook #33947]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE NERVE OF FOLEY

AND OTHER RAILROAD STORIES

BY FRANK H. SPEARMAN

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK AND LONDON

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1900

Copyright, 1900, by Frank H. Spearman.

_All rights reserved._

TO
MY BROTHER

[Illustration: "FOLEY DROPPED DOWN ON THE STEAM-CHEST AND SWUNG FAR
OUT"]

CONTENTS

THE NERVE OF FOLEY

SECOND SEVENTY-SEVEN

THE KID ENGINEER

THE SKY-SCRAPER

SODA-WATER SAL

THE McWILLIAMS SPECIAL

THE MILLION-DOLLAR FREIGHT-TRAIN

BUCKS

SANKEY'S DOUBLE HEADER

SICLONE CLARK

ILLUSTRATIONS

"FOLEY DROPPED DOWN ON THE STEAM-CHEST AND SWUNG FAR OUT"

"THE CAB FOR A PASSING INSTANT ROSE IN THE AIR

"THAT WAS BURNS'S FIRING THAT NIGHT"

"SINCLAIR WAS WHISTLING SHARPLY FOR ORDERS"

The Nerve of Foley

There had been rumors all winter that the engineers were going to
strike. Certainly we of the operating department had warning enough. Yet
in the railroad life there is always friction in some quarter; the
railroad man sleeps like the soldier, with an ear alert--but just the
same he sleeps, for with waking comes duty.

Our engineers were good fellows. If they had faults, they were American
faults--rashness, a liberality bordering on extravagance, and a
headstrong, violent way of reaching conclusions--traits born of ability
and self-confidence and developed by prosperity.

One of the best men we had on a locomotive was Andrew Cameron; at the
same time he was one of the hardest to manage, because he was young and
headstrong. Andy, a big, powerful fellow, ran opposite Felix Kennedy on
the Flyer. The fast runs requ