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Appendix: the hardships and privations of a detective's life
Every person who may have survived the experience has undoubtedly a lively recollection of the wild groups of people which the building of the
Union and
Central Pacific Railroads brought together from all directions, and from all causes.
There were millions upon millions of dollars to be expended; and as the points of construction neared each other, and the twin bands of iron crept along the earth's surface like two huge serpents, spanning mighty rivers, penetrating vast mountains, and trailing through majestic forests, creeping slowly but surely towards each other, there was always the greatest dread at the most advanced points, which, like the heads of serpents, always contained danger and death; and the vast cities of a day that then