Before I knew it, the day of our departure had arrived. As you might imagine, there was all manner of fuss and bother about getting to the train station in Greenville with an entourage of family members and baggage. And there were tearful good-byes and instructions about behaving ourselves, and not doing things that would embarrass all the adults who were so proud of us.

When we boarded the train, Jared and I took seats in one of the parlor cars. Horatio, as we had agreed, joined the colored staff on the last car just before the caboose. Neither Jared nor I were happy about this solution; Horatio seemed not to be bothered by it in the least.

“If me acting like I’m your servant saves us from trouble and turmoil and bodily harm, I’m all for it. You two white boys want to make it up to me, y’all can wait on me when ain’t nobody looking”

“That could work,” said Jared. “Just don’t get too carried away with the two of us doing your bidding.”

“I ain’t worried about Harry. He’ll get the hang of it right quick. Jared, on the other hand, might need some instruction.”

“Just what I was afraid of.”

The train had been underway barely a half hour when Jared, not one for sitting long, tugged at my sleeve. I put down my book as he said, “First time this old girl comes to a stop, let’s get ourselves up into the locomotive.”

“Jared, we’re passengers. They not gonna want us getting in the way.”

“Nah … be fine. Besides, we ain’t got no view back here. Up there? All kinds of stuff to see.”

So when the train stopped a few minutes later to take on wood and water, Jared and I trotted out of the parlor car and headed up to the locomotive. Jared waved at the engineer and hollered, “Hey cap, mind if me and my friend here climb up and ride along with you for a spell?”

The engineer was a burly looking fellow with an open face and a ready smile. He shouted back over the steam he was releasing from the boiler, “Climb aboard, boys. But I need to warn you. This ain’t the coolest place on the train. And it damn sure ain’t the quietest.”

“Yessir. We allowed for that. But we’re happy to trade comfort for a beautiful view and learning how a train gets moved along without no horses pulling it.”

“Then get yourselves up here ‘fore we leave ya behind.”

Just as Jared was about to place his foot on the ladder, a young man about our age shoved himself in front of us and vaulted onto the train like a deer jumping a fence.

Jared surprised me. I expected him to react with annoyance. He didn’t do that. He smiled and gave me a wink.

When the two of us had climbed up into the cab, he said, “Howdy do. Name’s Jared. This young fella is Harry. Me and him are on our way up to some place called New Hampshire.”

“Pleased to meet you both,” said the engineer. “I’m Robert and I’m in charge of driving this hunk of steel. This here’s Tobias. He’s my fireman.”

Jared and I reached out to shake the engineer’s hand, but when we turned to do the same with Tobias, he’d turned his back and begun throwing split oak logs into the boiler furnace.

The engineer smiled and said, “Tobias ain’t so comfortable with strangers. Give him some time. He’ll find his manners.”

“Seems friendly enough to me,” said Jared.

“Besides, he’s probably wondering what a couple of dudes wearing suits are doing up here getting in his way.”

Turning around slowly and looking Jared straight in the eye, Tobias said, “You know, I was wondering about that.”

“Don’t blame you one bit, friend. Not one bit. But since we’re here, maybe you could give me and Harry an explanation of how all this works. I’m not sure about Harry. But this is all brand spanking new for me.”

When I saw the reluctant smile on Tobias’ lips, I was once again reminded of what a remarkable friend I had in Jared. He had an uncanny ability to differentiate between people who are mean and nasty at base, and those who appear that way because of some damage done to them long ago.

For the former, he had only disdain and the readiness to give them a sound thrashing if necessary. With the latter, he was different. I think he saw them like dogs or horses who had been abused and who deserved patience and compassion: “I shall do whatever it takes to win you over and prove I am on your side.”

“What you want to know about?” said Tobias.

“Start anywhere you want, boss. Whatever you tell us, we’ll be all ears. Right, Harry?”

I nodded vigorously. “Just don’t go too fast. I ain’t the sharpest axe in the woodshed.”

That actually got a chuckle and a little smile out of the boy. “Yeah that’d be good, Tobias,” said the engineer. “Probably remind me of things I forgot and shouldn’t have.”

It was five minutes or so before the train got under way. Now there would be little time for Tobias to talk, what with his tending to the boiler and helping Robert keep a watchful eye on the track unfolding before us.

Nonetheless, in that short period Tobias gave us a remarkably clear explanation of the basics of steam locomotion and how those principles had been applied to rail travel. His diction and grammar was roughhewn, but we had no trouble understanding him, nor did our attention wander in the least.

When he’d finished, Jared said, “Thank you very much, Tobias. I gotta admit you explain things better’n most books I’ve read. ‘Course I ain’t read a whole lot of books …”

“Well, I have read a great many books, Tobias,” I inserted, “and I agree with Jared.”

“Well, all righty then,” said Robert as he slapped the back of the blushing Tobias. “Enough with all the teachin’ and instruction. Let’s keep this old girl moving.”

The next two hours passed quickly. As Jared and I tried to steer clear of all that Robert and Tobias were doing, we swallowed in the view that Jared had anticipated. He was right; I was captivated. It was one thing to perch myself high in a tree where I could observe the landscape for miles around. It was quite another to be fifteen feet off the ground and see that same landscape race by.

Dense copses of trees. Pastures filled with grazing horses and cows. Waves from children and some adults as the train roared through the occasional village. Here and there Robert tugged on the whistle chord and released a deafening blast. What a shame Horatio could not be up there with us. Little did I know he would soon have his own excitement – something that would stick out in my memory far more than what I was seeing at the moment.

Well before the train had rounded a long bend, we could see a plume of thick, oily smoke drifting up into the sultry air. It must have been about a mile away. In less than a minute we were 200 yards in front of the source of the smoke – a raging fire fueled by a pile of railroad ties.

“Son of a bitch!” yelled Robert. Jared and I were too focused on the blaze to do anything but stare at it.

“Do the brakes, Robert!” said Tobias. “She won’t stop ‘fore you hit it. But you don’t, she’ll jump the tracks surer ‘n hell.”

“Way ahead of ya, son,” said Robert, as a horrible screeching came from the giant locomotive wheels scraping along the tracks.

I thought we were about to die. The look of terror on Jared’s face said he agreed. But somehow we did not die. Somehow Robert slowed the train enough to keep it from derailing as the locomotive plowed through the fire.

For several moments it felt as if we had entered the depths of hell. We were gasping for air and coughing and rubbing our eyes when the voice of Satan ordered, “Get your asses off that machine and down here on the ground. Keep your hands high where we can see ‘em. You got a lick of sense, you’ll leave them shotguns you got hidden up there right where they’re at.”

I had only the faintest idea of what was happening. But it was clear that Robert was not confused. He muttered to Tobias, “It’s the Farringtons or their kin. Don’t give ‘em no provocation and we might get to see another sunrise.” To Jared and me he calmly said, “Boys, do exactly what they say and you’ll be fine.”

One by one each of us tumbled off the locomotive’s ladder. As I hit the ground, I saw two tall, muscular men wearing suits and hats. Both wore a kerchief over the lower half of his face, and each pointed a Colt 44’s straight at us. One seemed to be the boss. He handed his colleague a large burlap bag and said, “Get on with it and be back here in 15 minutes. Any tarrying is gonna get us shot or hanged or both.”

As the other man trotted off, the boss ordered the four of us to sit on the ground.

“Gentlemen, my advice is simple. Do not talk nor make any movement that makes me think you will try to overpower me. If you do, I will not only shoot the would-be hero, I will shoot all of you. Do not test me. My associate and I will depart as soon as we have relieved your passengers of their valuables. Then you can continue on to your destination.”

All of us complied with his instructions. I was terrified, and I’m sure I showed it. The reactions of the others differed. Robert did not look at the robber. He simply stared straight ahead as if he were thinking about the answer to some question posed to him by a teacher long ago. Tobias sat motionless, staring at the ground. But Jared looked directly at the man with the gun. To my consternation, everything in his posture and facial expression conveyed disdain and contempt.

“You got something you want to say to me, boy?”

“No, sir.”

But now the disdain and contempt were even more palpable. The robber took a step towards Jared and drew back his pistol as if he were about to whip him with it. But an instant before he could, we heard a gunshot and a painful howling and then: “Levi, this little nigger just shot me in the foot.”

When we looked up, we saw the other robber limping forward with Horatio hunkered down behind him and holding the man’s ’44 in both hands – well, one hand and a hook.

With amazing swiftness, Jared and Tobias sprang at the boss man who’d been distracted by the sight of his wounded partner. His gun went off, but it was pointed harmlessly at the sky when it did. By the time he hit the ground, Jared delivered a ferocious kick to the man’s ribs while Tobias tore the gun from his weakened grasp. All this was accomplished in fewer than five seconds.

For several minutes I was in a state of numbness, so my recall of what happened is fuzzy. But I believe Horatio was the next to speak.

“Shut yo’ thievin’ mouth, white trash. You don’t, there’ll be a hole in your other foot. Am I making myself clear?”

“Go ahead and kill me, nigger boy. Otherwise I’ll hunt you down sooner or later. Then I’ll shove that hook up your skinny little ass and string you up high, just like I done with every other nigger that dared to get crossways with me.”

As the wounded man was about to continue his ranting, Tobias grabbed a large wrench and swung it hard into the wounded man’s stomach. He slumped over and toppled to the ground with a faint groan.

“Think that’ll keep his mouth shut for a while, friend?” Tobias said to Horatio.

“I believe it will, sir. I am in your debt. Didn’t want to waste another round on him.”

After that, Robert took charge of the situation. He had us bind the two robbers hand and foot and then tie them to a large tree facing away from each other.

“That’ll hold ‘em a spell,” he said. “When we get to the next stop, I’ll have the station master telegraph somebody to come and collect these two turds. Lots of folks gonna be pleased Levi and Hilary Farrington finally got their asses caught.”

Then he looked at me and Horatio and said, “You boys come with me so we can check on the passengers and return whatever valuables they had snatched. Tobias and Jared, how ‘bout the two of you make sure that fire’s out and clear the track. I’ll return in a jiffy so we can get back to driving a train stead of catching criminals.”

To say the least, our day had been full by the time the train was moving again. I am not entirely certain what Jared and Horatio did, but I returned to the parlor car, sat down, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. When I awoke, Jared and Horatio were standing over me and grinning.

“You get yourself some beauty rest there, boss?” said Jared.

I was alert enough to say, “I did and I’d be considerably prettier if you scoundrels woulda let me get some more.”

“Hell, Harry. You gonna have lots of time for slumbering” said Horatio. “Let’s the three of us get some food and splice together all the excitement we had.”

“Good idea,” I said. “But where we gonna do the eating, Horatio? No way they gonna let you sit down with Jared and me in the dining car.”

“Got that figured out. Made arrangements for you and Jared to come back in the staff car with me. Food’ll be better and we won’t have to worry about stuck-up white folks giving us reproachful looks.”

Jared nodded his head and tugged me out of my seat. Then the three of us traipsed back to the kitchen car where there were four colored men wearing white jackets and black bow ties. Each was fully engaged in either preparing food or taking trays of the food to the forward part of the train. From all of these gentlemen we received polite and friendly smiles and a chorus of “Good evening, young men.”

Horatio introduced the two of us to Frederick, a white haired man who could have been my father’s age. He had a quiet grace about him that made me think he might have been raised and educated somewhere far away. A place where the throats of colored people had not been under the heel of a white man’s boot for hundreds of years. But his soft drawl gave him away; he had grown up close by.

I so wanted to ask him, “Sir, how can you be like you are? How can hatred and resentment not be pouring out of you like blood from a gaping wound? How can you be so much better than the people who have tried to hold you down throughout your long life?” But I simply said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Frederick.”

Frederick seated us at a round table in the back of the car where the colored staff ate their meals. With a warm smile and a slight bow he said, “Well, with all the earlier excitement I suspect you gentlemen have worked up some appetite. I do hope you enjoy what we’ve prepared for you.”

“Thank you so much, Frederick,” I said. “I’m certain we’ll find it delicious. But I must confess a hunger so powerful that boiled shoe leather would taste like a delicacy.”

His smile broadened as he said, “Well, Mr. Harry, I think we can do better than shoe leather. Can I offer you gentlemen an aperitif?”

I tried to hide my grin as Jared said, “Sure, why not, Mr. Frederick. I don’t believe I’ve ever ate one of them before.”

With a straight face Horatio said, “Sir, I believe three glasses of whisky would do us just fine.”

“Very good. I shall be right back, gentlemen.”

None of the three of us had ever been reluctant to run our mouths when we were together. The spirits Frederick brought us served only to fuel our loquaciousness.

“So, little man,” said Jared. “How’d you yank that gun away from somebody twice your size? Wish I coulda seen that.”

“Wasn’t all that challenging,” he said as he leaned back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest, and gave Jared a smug look.

“That right? What’d you do? Jam that hook of yours in his ass when he wasn’t lookin’?”

“Precisely what I done.”

Jared and I laughed so hard we about fell out of our chairs. Frederick joined in: “With the good lord as my witness, this brave young is telling the truth.”

Horatio said, “See, the two of you ain’t your average white folks. You was, we wouldn’t be on this journey together. But the average white man thinks niggers …please excuse, my language, Mr. Frederick.”

The older gentleman said, “That’s all right, son. Tell your story however you want to tell it.”

“Point is they think us colored people ain’t got no gumption. They’d be wrong about that. But anyway, what I done was play on his underestimating me. So when he come in here waving that big Colt around and telling us we’re dead less we do what he says, I huddled myself up and looked as scared as I could. Soon as he turned his back on me, I stood up and swung my hook hard as I could into his hind side.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear the howling all the way at the other end of the train,” Frederick said.

“He was kinda loud, wasn’t he? Anyway, he dropped the Colt and I scooped it up in a hurry and stuck him one more time to get his full attention.”

“That lead to more howling?” asked Jared.

“It did. Moreover I believe it put him in a compliant frame of mind.”

“Woulda had that effect on me,” I said.

“But by the time I got him moved up towards where you all were at, he started getting uppity again. That’s when I shot him in the foot. But the fool still wouldn’t keep quiet. Took Tobias hitting him with the wrench to achieve that.”

Before leaving for New Hampshire I had told both my mother and Mary Kathleen that I would write to them at least once a week if I could. Since we were barely a day and a half into our journey, I felt it too soon to compose the first letters. On the other hand, much had happened in that short stretch of time. I decided it might be well to set down some thoughts that would likely find their way into either or both communications.

This is what I wrote:

How complicated and surprising human beings can be. There is a strong part of me that wants to put them into neat categories like “good and bad,” “articulate and inarticulate,” “honest and dishonest,” and so on. But I’m beginning to realize people do not easily lend themselves to such classification. The Farrington brothers who have just failed in their attempt to rob our train are an example. I do not need all the newspaper accounts of their escapades to convince me that both men have a dark and malevolent side. Blocking a train with a huge fire and pointing loaded weapons at innocent people is proof enough of that. Can we not simply dismiss them as thoroughly reprehensible men undeserving of any respect and admiration? I have to conclude that we cannot. Why? For one, they have a fierce loyalty to each other. Without hesitation each would sacrifice his life for the other if so required. Isn’t that an admirable quality? Or take their mental and physical toughness. I would never choose either of these two as a friend. But what if the both of them and I were face to face with a gang of thugs who wished to do us great harm? My terror would be markedly lessened by their presence – no doubt whatsoever about that.

I suppose what I am learning is that it is always a mistake to judge any human being too quickly or too certainly. They might show very strong tendencies, either good or bad, but most all of them are capable of defying those tendencies when we least expect it. The resolutely ethical banker who one day absconds with depositors’ savings. Or the hardened killer who could escape capture and hanging by angry vigilantes but instead stops to save a child from certain death in a fire. I suppose the point is that human beings are only partly predictable, not completely so. And the fact that the former is true makes life infinitely more interesting than if the latter were the case.

(To be continued …)