He dimly saw the long black line of the train standing on the track,
and here and there warm rings of smoke rose from the chimneys and
floated up into the heavens, where they were lost.
He thought he could detect little figures moving beside the train and he
knew that they must be those of his comrades. He felt for a moment a
sense of loneliness. He had not known these lads long, but the battle
had bound them firmly together. They had been comrades in danger and
that made them comrades as long as they lived.
"Greatest town in the world," said Petty, waving toward it a huge hand,
encased in a thick yarn glove. "I've traveled from it as much as fifty
miles in every direction, north, south, east, an' west, an' I ain't
never seed its match. I reckon I'm somethin' of a traveler, but every
time I come back to Townsville, I think all the more of it, seein' how
much better it is than anything else."
Dick glanced at the mountaineer, and saw that there could be no doubt of
his sincerity.
"You're a lucky man, Mr. Petty," he said, "to live in the finest place
in the world."
"Yes, if I don't get drug off to the war. I'm not hankerin' for
fightin' an' I don't know much what the war's about though I'm for
the Union, fust to last, an' that's the way most of the people 'bout
here feel. Turn your heads ag'in, friends, an' take another look at
Townsville."
Dick and Whitley glanced back and saw only the blank gray wall of the
mountain.
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