Night Noises 177 



The railroad came, at its nearest point, with- 

 in five miles of White Oaks, but, with the 

 ground frozen and the wind right, you might 

 have fancied you heard the trains just back of 

 the fields. There was a trestle of some height 

 a little beyond the nearest point. Joe could 

 tell, by the sinking of the sound, when the 

 trains were slacking up for it, long before he 

 heard the three whistles, which asked the 

 bridge-walker if it were firm and clear. He 

 got a time-table, and amused timself by noting 

 when trains were on time or behind it. He 

 began to hear the noise of passing five minutes 

 after they left the station in town. He had 

 tested that over and over. One especial train, 

 the south-bound limited, was due to leave at 

 seven sharp. It started in a deep cut, else 

 you might have heard the whistle at White 

 Oaks. When it struck the open, a little down 

 grade, the burr and buzz of it went all across 

 country. Joe persuaded himself that the burr- 

 ing and buzzing were some way unlike the 

 sound of the two freights, which ran next, but 

 Patsy, who was a regular Fine-Ear, laughed 

 at him — though she agreed anybody could 

 tell the noise of a coal train, it was so much 

 more a grumble than that of common freight. 



Toward Christmas the big road was so much 

 travelled the noises ran into each other. 

 Everybody went to town and stayed until sun- 



