FRIENDS OF CHILDHOOD
Thea, who came bringing the lunch box and water bottles. Although there was not shadow enough to accommodate all the party at once, the air under the tank was distinctly cooler than the surrounding air, and the drip made a pleasant sound in that breathless noon. The station agent ate as if he had never been fed before, apologizing every time he took another piece of fried chicken. Giddy was unabashed before the devilled eggs of which he had spoken so scornfully last night. After lunch the men lit their pipes and lay back against the uprights that supported the tank.
"This is the sunny side of railroading, all right," Giddy drawled luxuriously.
"You fellows grumble too much," said Mrs. Kronborg as she corked the pickle jar. "Your job has its drawbacks, but it don't tie you down. Of course there 's the risk; but I believe a man 's watched over, and he can't be hurt on the railroad or anywhere else if it 's intended he should n't be."
Giddy laughed. "Then the trains must be operated by fellows the Lord has it in for, Mrs. Kronborg. They figure it out that a railroad man 's only due to last eleven years; then it 's his turn to be smashed."
"That 's a dark Providence, I don't deny," Mrs. Kronborg admitted. "But there 's lots of things in life that 's hard to understand."
"I guess!" murmured Giddy, looking off at the spotted white hills.
Ray smoked in silence, watching Thea and her mother clear away the lunch. He was thinking that Mrs. Kronborg had in her face the same serious look that Thea had; only hers was calm and satisfied, and Thea's was intense and questioning. But in both it was a large kind of look, that was not all the time being broken up and convulsed by trivial things. They both carried their heads like Indian women, with a kind of noble unconsciousness. He got so tired of women who were always nodding and jerking;
121
