When the factory where Ferg works is shut down as the Great Depression descends on the United States, he leaves home and sets out to look for work. Riding the rails, staying in hobo jungles, living hand to mouth and barely surviving.
But when Henry, a fellow bo, is killed while saving Ferg’s life, he finds himself in possession of a expensive pocket watch and a promise to the dying man to deliver it to the original owner – Henry’s grandfather.
But winter is coming, the road isn’t safe and who is going to believe that someone like Ferg came by the watch honestly?
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Read an excerpt:
Within an hour, a brakeman climbed down from the roof of an adjacent boxcar and jumped onto the flatcar. Ferg crouched behind one of the huge steel rolls at the far end of the car. The brakeman’s face was mostly hidden under his floppy hat as he methodically tested the slack in each chain. Upon finding a chain that was loose, he unsnapped the binder, shortened the chain loop two or three links, and then used a three-foot-long pipe to force the binder handle back into place. Watching the brakeman gradually work toward him, Ferg cursed at himself for not leaving the flatcar sooner.
A rough patch of track made the flatcar rock from side to side, but the brakeman was apparently used to this and went about his work without looking up. Stepping carefully over the crisscrossed chains on the flat car, the brakeman loosened another binder. The train encountered more rough track and simultaneously leaned into a tight curve. He stumbled and fell backward into a sitting position. Mumbling a curse, he came to his knees, and began to rise.
The giant rolls leaned away from the curve making the loosened chain sag. Coming out of the curve, they over-corrected, straining against the opposite chains before settling back. All but the roll the brakeman was securing. Abruptly tightening against the heavy load, the slack chain snapped. Crackling like an automatic rifle, the other chains holding it snapped as well. The giant roll of steel swayed in response to the rocking of the flatcar, and careened toward the kneeling brakeman. Scrambling to his feet, the brakeman tried to move from the path of the steel leviathan, turning just in time to face the roll as it ran over him.
Ferg heard his muffled scream as the steel rolled off the edge of the flatcar, taking the brakeman with it. The rest of the load remained secure while the broken, loose chains dangled off the side of the flatcar and dragged along the ground clanging like muted bells.
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