Page:Frank Packard - On the Iron at Big Cloud.djvu/201

 time, not even in a big crowd, for nature had dealt with Gilleen generously—or otherwise—whichever way it pleases you best to consider it. He had red hair of a shade that might be classified as brilliant, but which Regan, the master mechanic, described in metaphor. Said Regan: "You could see that head a mile away on the other side of a curve in a blizzard at night when he pokes it out of the cab window. You'll never get Gilleen on the carpet because his headlight's out, what?" Certainly, at any rate, Gilleen's hair was undeniably red. He had blue eyes, and a very small nose which, for all that, was, next to his hair, the most prominent feature he possessed—small noses with a slight up-cant to the tip are pronounced, mere size to the contrary. His face was freckled and so were his hands; also, he was no small chunk of a man, not so very tall, but the shoulders on him were something to envy if you were friendly with him, or to respect if you were not. That was Gilleen, all except the fact that he admitted with emphasis to the blood of some wild Irish race of kings coursing through his veins. This last point was never established—every one took Gilleen's word for it, that is every one but Regan, who was Irish himself and, more pertinent still, Gilleen's direct superior. On this point Regan, who was never averse to doing it, could get a rise out of Gilleen quicker than the bite of a hungry trout.

"By Christmas," Gilleen would sputter on such occasions, "I'll have you know I'm no liar, an' if 'twere not for the missus an' the six kids"—here Gilleen would always stop to count, owing to a possible arrival