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The caboose was eer, the captain, Purdue, and the loyal Oscar Hayes, who looked like he’d rather be almost anywhere else at that particular moment The silence that fell in the wake of the no was thick and muddled with the ambient roar of the train and the wind, and the occasional whistle of the incoht itself, which finally saw fit to answer the Shenandoah

The ranger had not yet drawn either of his visible guns, which had been returned to hi, pro Mercy to wonder how she’d not yet noticed that he favored the left

Without lowering his gun or so , the captain said evenly, "Purdue, I know you’ve heard it Have you seen it, out thehere?"

"Nope"

"They’re gaining on us, and soon they’re going to catch us If they beat us to the pass, we ht be done for Do you understand me?"

With equal deadpan delivery, the scientist said, "I do, but I believe my experiments are more important than a few casualties"

"Believe what you want That engine ison a ne--the sahter and ht, Ranger Korine with al now, and they’re pulling half the weight"

"The Dreadnought can outrun the too much to outrun that Rebel sprinter," the Texian insisted

"Then we’ll shoot her off the tracks I remain unconcerned," said Malverne Purdue, who also remained ready to fire at the drop of a hat

Horatio Korets ahead of us, and gets any lead on us--as she almost certainly will--they’ll take out the tracks and then we’re all of us dead"

"We’ll blow it off the tracks before it passes us"

His patience running thin, Captain MacGruder said, "It’s not going to get a chance to pass us, Purdue We’re going to drop soht and outrun it We’ll beat it to the punch if we can shake soet ahead We’re all done for, if we do"

Purdue said, "Well then, I guess we’re all shit out of luck, because you’re not unfastening this car," he said, indicating with a thrust of his shoulder the rearmost vehicle, the hearse "You wouldn’t do that, would you? You wouldn’t disrespect the war dead like that, would you, Captain?"

"Right now the needs of the living coo at those couplers"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>