SLIM TELLS POP ABOUT HIS NEW BOSS
What kind of a outfit you got to work wid?”
“Good. I thought at fust it was monstrous triflin’, but it ain’t. I been havin’ a hard time gettin’ oveh feelin’ that I got my hand too deep in de company’s pocket all this time we set aroun’ waitin’ on clearance, but I ain’t neveh seen no gang rawhide like we do when we do get de track. Got a good boss, too; hard-talkin’ ol’ man, but he don’t mean nothin’ by it. I like to busted his mouth in de first time he spoke to me, but come to find out about it he did n’t want nothin’ only for me to get my hand offen his wiah so he could sight it! Knows his stuff, too; knows more about catenary than Congress knows about politics.”
“What’s his name?”
“Duke’s all de name I eveh heard tell of for him.”
Pop whistled. “Well, son, you done wise not to try to bust his mouth in. It don’t bust as easy as some of ’em do. Did n’t you neveh hear de story about de Duke an’ them coppeh thieves he cotched stealin’ scrap coppeh out of his reel car?”
“No. Neveh did.”
“Well, they was three of ’em high-gradin’ his coppeh scrap back in de days when coppeh scrap was wuth fightin’ oveh. The Duke he come on ’em alone; did n’t have nothin’ wid him but his pliehs. He told ’em to lay off it an’ one of ’em th’owed a wiah lock at him. De otheh guys in de train did n’t find ’em till about a houh afteh it was all oveh. All four of ’em was lyin’ in one pile in de end of de reel car an’ de Duke was on top. His gang had to work on him for fifty-five minutes to bring him back.”
“What did they do wid de coppeh thieves?”
“They was two of ’em they did n’t have to do nothin’ wid. They taken ’em an’ th’owed ’em undeh de wheels of a freight train so it looked like it was a accident done it. De third, he was still alive, so they th’owed him on a flat car headed for Chicago an’ he ain’t been back to botheh’em since. So if you get to wantin’ de Duke you betteh make right certain you get there fust.”
“I don’t want him no more noway. He’s been right good to me an’ I’m fixin’ on gettin’ along wid him fine.”