“Above all else,” she said, “no hobo will ever interfere with the duties or the comfort of any worker on the trains or on the tracks. Trains are our best hope for getting from place to place—from one paying job to the next. If any of us sours the train workers, or earns a reputation for theft, the gig will be up for all of us. One bout of hell-raising can ruin an entire city for weeks or months at a stretch. If ever the linemen come to distrust a hobo, you’ll find a long, weary road ahead of you, rebuilding that trust.”
