midnight
Moreover , after his temporary alienation he had become a more ardent Graysonite than ever , and would not hear of anything except his triumphant election , despite the immense power of the forces allied against him . While they changed cars often in the West , the one that bore them to the candidate 's town had been their home for several weeks , and even the engine was the same ; thus the train attendants fell under the spell of Jimmy Grayson , and when he walked down their car-steps for the last time they came around him in their soiled working clothes and wished him success . It was scarcely dawn then , the east was not yet white , but Harley could see sincerity written all over their honest faces , and Jimmy Grayson , who had listened to ten thousand words of the same kind , some true and some false , was much moved . `` Sir , '' said the engineer , `` at midnight , when the tale is told , I shall be three hundred miles from here , but if you are not the man , then it is a tale that I shall not care to hear . '' `` Friends , '' said Jimmy Grayson , gravely , `` I am glad to have your good wishes ; the good wish is the father of the good act , and whatever tale the coming night has to tell let us endure it without vaunting or complaint . '' As Mr. Grayson and his friends walked away in the growing dawn , the railroad men raised a cheer . A little later Harley heard the puff , puff of a locomotive followed by the grinding of wheels , and the train which had been their home whirled away into that West where they had seen and done so many strange things .