68 “COME DUCK SHOOTING WITH ME” 
‘“* Where do you get off?’ he asked. 
‘**At Newton Center,’ said I. 
‘‘“The hell you do,’ said he, ‘Who do you know on 
this line?’ 
‘* “Bill Carstairs,’-said I: 
«Oh, you’rea friend of Bill,eh? If you're his friend, 
you're all right and that goes. Say; got any chewin’?’ 
‘The following afternoon my brakeman friend came 
into the car and told me the next stop ended his run and 
added, ‘There’s a pretty hard bunch of railroaders on 
the Los Angeles run. They have to be tough, so many 
bums are always trying to get east. But the pass is, 
‘‘What’s the distancefrom San Pedro toSan Francisco?”’ 
Remember the two ‘‘Sans”’ or you will get kicked off 
the train.’ 
“T took advantage of the next stop to round up a 
little eating shack and got some steak, fried spuds, and 
coffee. Crackers and cheese get tedious after a while. 
‘‘Soon after the train started two breakies and the 
conductor came into the calaboose together. 
‘“““Hope you are enjoying a pleasant trip,’ said the 
little fat breaky. ‘Did the porter tuck you up comfort- 
ably last night, sonny?’ 
«Say you,’ said the conductor real rudely, ‘who are 
you and where did you come from?’ 
‘‘Hold ona minute,”’ said I, ‘‘just hear those geese— 
where are they?”’ 
“Right across the lake,” answered Jimmy, “‘fairly 
low down. The first Canadas I’ve seen this fall; they 
came over the north mountains a few minutes ago— 
probably been flying for twenty hours and traveled over 
a thousand miles. They are thirsty and tired and want 
to bathe and rest, but they won’t quit circling until 
sure that all is well and they can light in safety.” 
’ 
