of Rourke,
came forward, looked down, and said quietly: "This won't do, Rourke.
You'll have to keep the work covered when a train is approaching. I've
told you that before, you know."

Rourke looked up, so astonished and ashamed that he should have been put
in such a position before his superior that he hardly knew what to say.
I doubt if any one ever had a greater capacity for respecting his
superiors, anyhow. Instead of trying to answer, he merely choked and
began to shout for Jimmie, who came running, crying, as he always did,
"What's da mat'? What's da mat'?"

"What's da mat'? What's da mat'?" mocked Rourke, fairly seething with a
marvelous Irish fury. "What the devil do ye suppose is the mat'? What do
ye mane be waalkin' away an' l'avin' the hole uncovered? Didn't I tell
ye niver to l'ave a hole when a train's comin'? Didn't I tell ye to
attind to that an' naathin' else? An' now what have ye been doin'? Be
all the powers, what d'ye mane be l'avin' it? What else arre ye good
fer? What d'ye mane be lettin' a thing like that happen, an' Mr. Wilson
comin' along here, an' the hole open?"

He was as red as a beet, purple almost, perspiring, apoplectic. During
all this tirade Mr. Wilson, a sad, dark, anaemic-looking person, troubled
with acute indigestion, I fancy, stood by with an amused, kindly, and
yet mock severe expression on his face. I am sure he did not wish to be
severe.

Jimmie, dumbfounded, scarcely knew what to say. In the face of Rourke's
rage and the foreman's presence, he did his best to remedy his error by
covering the hole, at the same time stuttering something about going for
a trowel.

"A trowel!" cried Rourke, glaring at him. "A trowel, ye h'athen ginny!
What'd ye be doin' lookin' fer a trowel, an' a train comin' that close
on ye it could 'a' knocked ye off the thrack? An' the hole open, an' Mr.
Wilson right here! Is that what I told ye? Is that what I pay ye fer? Be
all the saints! A trowel, is it? I'll trowel ye! I'll break yer h'athen
Eyetalian skull, I will. Get thim boards on, an' don't let me ketch ye
l'avin' such a place as that open again. I'll get shut av ye, ye
blitherin' lunatic."

When it was all over and the train bearing the general foreman had
gone, Rourke quieted down, but not without many fulgurous flashes that
kept the poor Italian on tenterhooks.

About an hour later, however, another train arrived, and, by reason of
some intervening necessity and the idle, wandering mood o