be forgotten—and that great wheels would hurtle on for ever. And the earth be still.
Mr. Flood shifted his gouty weight carefully with a movement of his fat arm, grunting painfully as he did so. This delicate operation completed, he stared sharply and intently at the boy again and at length said bluntly:
“You’re one of those Gant boys, ain’t you? Ain’t you Ben’s brother?”
“Yes, sir,” the boy answered. “That’s right.”
“Which one are you?” Mr. Flood said with this same brutal directness. “You ain’t the one that stutters, are you?”
“No,” one of the other men interrupted with a laugh, but in a decided tone. “He’s not the one. You’re thinking of Luke.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Flood stupidly. “Is Luke the one that stutters?”
“Yes,” the boy said, “that’s Luke. I’m Eugene.”
“Oh,” Mr. Flood said heavily. “I reckon you’re the youngest one.”
“Yes, sir,” the boy answered.
“Well,” said Mr. Flood with an air of finality, “I didn’t know which one you were, but I knew you were one of them. I knew I’d seen you somewhere.”
“Yes, sir,” the boy answered. He was about to go on, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly blurted out: “I used to carry a route on The Courier when you owned it. I guess that’s how you remembered me.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Flood stupidly, “you did? Yes, that’s it, all right. I remember now.” And he continued to look at the boy with his bulging stare of comic stupefaction and for a moment there was silence save for the pounding of the wheels upon the rail.
“How many of you boys are there?” The swarthy and important-looking man who had previously been addressed as Emmet now spoke curiously: “There must be five or six in all.”
“No,” the boy said, “there’s only three now. There’s Luke and Steve and me.”
“Oh, Steve, Steve,” the little man said with an air of crisp finality, as if this was the name that had been at the tip of his tongue all the time. “Steve was the oldest, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, sir,” said the boy.
“Whatever became of Steve, anyway?” the man said. “I don’t believe I’ve seen him in ten or fifteen years. He doesn’t live at home any more, does he?”
