For one he made me stand with him while he gazed long into the
drug-store window. I divined at last that those giant chalices, one of
green and one of ruby liquor, were the objects of his worship. He could
not have told me this, but I knew that in his mind these were compounds
of unparalleled richness, potent with Heaven knows what wondrous charms.
It was not that he dreamed ever of securing any of the stuff; the spell
endured only while they must stand there, remote, splendid,
inaccessible.
Then we strolled down the quiet street to a road that went close to the
railway. And there, with beating hearts, we beheld the two-twenty
Eastern freight rattle superbly by us. From the cab of its inspiring
locomotive one of fortune's favorites rang a priceless gold bell with an
air of indifference which we believed in our hearts was assumed to
impress us. And notwithstanding our suspicion, we _were_ impressed, for
did we not know that he could reach up his other hand and blow the
splendid whistle if he happened to feel like it?
After the locomotive came the closed and mysterious box-cars, important
with big numbers and initials in cabalistic sequence, indicating a wide
and exciting range of travels.
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