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 finally loaded, and the men were a tired, sweaty, and muddy lot as they clambered into their respective cars and washed up for the night's sleep.

It was two o'clock before the section bearing Ali and Joie finally pulled out. This meant that the train was an hour later all along the line than it had been expected by the railroad officials. Freights trains were waiting for the circus-trains upon many sidings.

The night was as dark as a stack of black cats, as old railroad men say. The engineers and firemen could see very little ahead of them.

It was just a case of rushing along through the darkness, depending wholly upon the roadbed and the good steel rails. This is really what the trainmen always depend upon, but they do also depend