In a moment all was stir and confusion, seven women wanting attention
at once, and imperious men of the world crying out against railroad
regulations. Billy hustled everywhere, transferring bags and suit cases
with incredible rapidity to the other train, which arrived promptly,
securing a double seat for the fat woman with the canary, and the
poodle in a big basket, depositing the baggage of a pretty lady on the
shady side, making himself generally useful to the opulent looking man
with the jewelled rings; and back again for another lot. A whole dollar
and fifteen cents jingled in his grimy pocket as the trains finally
moved off in their separate directions and the peace of Pleasant View
settled down monotonously once more.
Billy gave a hurried glance about him. The station agent was busy with
another batch of trunks, but the heavy one was nowhere to be seen. He
gave a quick glance through the grated window where the telegraph
instrument was clicking away sleepily, but no one was there. Then a
stir among the pines below the track attracted his attention, and
stepping to the edge of the bank he caught a glimpse of a broad dusty
back lumbering hurriedly down among the branches.
With a flirt of his eye back to the absorbed station agent Billy was
off down the mountain after the heavy one, walking stealthily as any
cat, pausing in alert attention, listening, peering out eerily whenever
he came to a break in the undergrowth. Like a young mole burrowing he
wove his way under branches the larger man must have turned aside, and
so his going was as silent as the air. Now and then he could hear the
crash of a broken branch or the crackle of a twig, or the rolling of a
stone set free by a heavy foot, but he went on like a cat, like a
little wood shadow, till suddenly he felt he was almost upon his prey.
Then he paused and listened.
The man was kneeling just below him. He could hear the labored
breathing. There was a curious sound of metal and wood, of a key
turning in a lock. Billy drew himself softly into a group of cypress
and held his breath. Softly he parted the foliage and peered. The man
was down upon his knees before a rough box, holding something in his
hand which he put to his ear. Billy could not quite see what it was.
And now the man began to talk into the box. Billy ducked and listened: "Hello, Sam! You there! Couldn't come any quicker, lots of passengers.
Lots of freight. What's doing, anyhow?"