To walk at all was a laborious business; the foot sank and slid,
the boots were cut to pieces, among sharp, uneven, rolling stones.
When we crossed the platform in any direction, it was usual to lay
a course, following as much as possible the line of waggon rails.
Thus, if water were to be drawn, the water-carrier left the house
along some tilting planks that we had laid down, and not laid down
very well. These carried him to that great highroad, the railway;
and the railway served him as far as to the head of the shaft. But
from thence to the spring and back again he made the best of his
unaided way, staggering among the stones, and wading in low growth
of the calcanthus, where the rattlesnakes lay hissing at his
passage. Yet I liked to draw water. It was pleasant to dip the
gray metal pail into the clean, colourless, cool water; pleasant to
carry it back, with the water ripping at the edge, and a broken
sunbeam quivering in the midst.
But the extreme roughness of the walking confined us in common
practice to the platform, and indeed to those parts of it that were
most easily accessible along the line of rails. The rails came
straight forward from the shaft, here and there overgrown with
little green bushes, but still entire, and still carrying a truck,
which it was Sam's delight to trundle to and fro by the hour with
various ladings.
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