I made inquiries among the laborers and ascertained from their answers that I was being cared for at the very section house that Peoria Red and I had striven to reach during the howling blizzard.  I tried to find out what had become of my partner, but somehow they evaded my questions and it was many days before I managed by slow degrees to learn from them the facts concerning his absence.

During the height of the blizzard the foreman had ordered his crew out and upon their hand car driven at a lively rate by the power of the wind they had inspected every switch and car standing on sidings upon their section, to assure themselves that everything was properly safeguarded.  While they were slowly “pumping” the hand car homeward, fighting against the force of the raging snow storm, they discovered us lying closely cuddled together, all but buried in the snow and beginning the eternal sleep of death.  They stopped, and finding that we were yet faintly breathing, they loaded us upon the hand car and brought us to the section reservation.

Here by every means known to them they tried to revive the flickering sparks of life left in our frozen bodies.  In my case they were successful, but Peoria Red, poor fellow, failed to respond to their heroic efforts.  The following day they buried him on a slight elevation, diagonally across the track from the bunk house, where, whenever I looked in that direction, I could plainly discern the white board cross that the whole-souled laborers had erected to mark his grave.

The section foreman’s name was Henry McDonald.  He was a kind-hearted, yet stern man who demanded utmost obedience of those whom he commanded, while at the same time he was a loving father to his family.  Foreman McDonald had none but the friendliest of greetings for me and he spent many moments at the bunk house trying to cheer me in my hard luck.  Whenever I felt ill at ease for having added such a heavy burden to his small income, his quaint answer would always be:  “Joe, what little we can do for you we would cheerfully do for any human being in distress.  We do not ask for your excuses, as I feel that the Almighty above us will take care of me and my family, the pride of my humble life.”

When I recovered some of my former strength I did the “chores” for the section foreman’s wife, who not only boarded the five members of her husband’s crew, but took proper care of her four healthy and ever hungry children.

The oldest one of them, a boy of sixteen, was named Donald.  Then came a set of lively boy twins of fourteen, who had been baptized “Joseph” and “James”, but who were for convenience called Joe and Jim.  These twins resembled each other so closely that only their parents and intimate acquaintances could tell them apart.  They were inseparable companions, and full of boyish mischief.  The fourth child, the pet of everybody, was a beautiful, doll-like baby girl of three, whose name was Helen.