Roy Norton

“ His warmth toward the big man increased, because he alone understood. He was a real friend.
There was something odd about it all, he pondered. McCarthy took more pains than he used to, because he shaved every day, and had a new hat that he wore when not going through the mine. The Dream Lady, too, showed signs of the summer’s progression. She looked at the superintendent differently, and there was something in the look that led Sanders to know that she saw in this white-hatted, silent man a master of men and things. Ah! he could love her for that. ”

“ That was a triumph worth while when the big superintendent gravely recognized his drivership and subscribed more than all the others put together, saying as he did so: “A kid that has got that much nerve isn’t a kid; he’s a man, and shall have a man’s chance.”
That wasn’t all that McCarthy had done. He had stopped the miners from laughing at him openly, and had always thrown all the patronage to Sanders’ line that he could. ”

“ Sanders tried to sit up, but a cool hand restrained him. “Not yet, dear boy,” said the Dream Lady, and then his mind became active, and he wanted to know where the stage was.
“You are through with the stage, my little driver,” said the Dream Lady. “As soon as I can take you, you are going home with us, away back into the East, where there are no stages, but only schools and other little boys to play with. Where you will not have to work, but just become a man. ”

“ The driver’s legs straightened out like small pillars, to the brake that had been made long enough for his foot to reach; but to-day it didn’t seem to hold well.
A weed blew airily across the road, and the off-horse shied—shied so violently that Sanders swore under his breath and gave a quick jerk. The horse felt that Sanders was nervous. Up the short rise they went, and then swung over the brow and down on the crooked reach of Turn Again grade, while far below them, and alongside, the river whipped its foamy way over the boulders.
“What the devil ails you?” ”

“ Then, when the others were busy adjusting their belongings in the narrow space, he said: “Sanders, my boy, drive very carefully down the Turn Again grade. It’s a bad place. Be a game little cuss, and hold the reins tight. Always remember to be careful there.” Sanders wondered at the admonition as the horses swung out and down the hill.
The Dream Lady’s mother became a dragon in the stage-driver’s air-castle, perhaps because above the clanking of the vehicle and the clicking of the shod heels her voice arose in scolding tones at regular intervals. ”

“ Once, when Sanders had gone to sleep on the way up the long grade, because he had been up all night when the baby brother died and joined father, McCarthy, who happened to be a passenger that day, had put his arm around him and had driven through before the boy knew it. McCarthy never laughed at him, and McCarthy was a big man. A real superintendent who worked many men and who was a king up there where all those men worked. ”

“ The tamaracks changed color and the grass on the open spaces grew gray with age. The stream was a small river now and the grouse in the hills changed plumage. The big peaks put on winter caps of whiteness and the mornings were cold. ”