THE STEADFAST HEART
that topped his lid, lingered, then rolled slowly down his cheek.
“For me…. For me….” he said slowly. Then he sat down abruptly on the edge of the platform, his face bleak, lifeless, while silent tears followed each other in strange procession down his cheeks….
Presently the train roared in; they boarded it as people might board a funeral train, and from its platform, at Dave’s direction, Angus waved a lifeless hand at the friends he was leaving behind—and so he disappeared from their view.
Until the train was hidden by a distant curve, Bishwhang and Jake stood staring stonily after it; when the rear platform of the last car passed from view, Bishwhang heaved a deep sigh and moved closer to Jake as if for companionship….
…Thus Angus Burke departed from Rainbow, Godsped by a printer’s devil and a whiskey-smelling printer. When he returned, not even these were there to bid him welcome.
115
