opened the door of the
caboose. A bitter wind rushed past him and eddied about the car, making
the stove crackle. The iron was red-hot in places and a fierce twinkle
shone out beneath the rattling door. Half-seen men lay in the bunks
along the shadowy wall, tools jingled upon the throbbing boards, but the
motion was gentler than usual and the wheels churned softly instead of
hammering.

"Is she going to make it?" somebody asked.

Charnock leaned out of the door. Black smoke streamed about the cars
and he heard a heavy snorting some distance off, but the caboose lurched
slowly along the uneven track. The construction train was climbing a
steep grade, the driving wheels slipped and he doubted if the locomotive
could reach the summit, from which the line ran down to the camp. Dim
pines, hardly distinguishable from the white hillside, drifted past; a
shapeless rack loomed up and slowly drew abreast. It was some moments
before Charnock lost it in the tossing white haze.

"I don't know if she'll make it or not, but rather think she won't," he
said.

"Then come in and shut the blamed door," another growled. "No need to
worry about it, anyhow! Pay's as good for stopping in the caboose as for
humping rails in the snow."

"You're luckier than me in that way," Charnock answered as he shut the
door. "There are some drawbacks to being your own boss. When you can't
get to work it's comforting to know that somebody else has to find the
dollars and put up the hash."

He shivered as he sat down on a box. The snow was obviously deep and
things would be unpleasant at the camp, but Festing would not let this
interfere with work. Charnock thought he had been foolish to come back,
but Festing expected him and Sadie agreed that he ought to go. It was
something of an effort to live up to the standards of such a partner and
such a wife. Sadie was a very good sort, better than he deserved, but
he would not have minded it if she were not quite so anxious about his
moral welfare. Besides, after the comfort of the homestead, the caboose
jarred. It smelt of acrid soft-coal smoke, the air was full of dust,
and rubbish jolted about the floor. Then Charnock grinned as he admitted
that he had not expected to find the path of virtue smooth.

His reflections were rudely disturbed, for a violent jolt threw him off
the box. The boards he fell upon no longer throbbed, and it was evident
that the train had stopped. The others laughed as he got up.